Never Fall too Far
by CelticKitsune
Summary: Sixth year had been shaping up to be the best and most normal school year Harry had ever had, one incident changes that and Harry's life is once again turned upside down, and he has to decide if this is truly for the best or not.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Harry Potter.  
I do however own the Original Characters in this story! As well as the Creature race I have introduced!

Thanks to BickyMonster for beta reading this for me!

Never Fall too Far  
Chapter one

Blaise Zabini prided himself on being a very observant person. He was generally content to just sit back and watch things unfold before deciding if he needed to take action, though it was very rare that he would actually get involved in anything. So it was, with his ever watchful gaze, that he found his attention once again being drawn to a certain black-haired Gryffindor as the small sixteen year old came walking into the Great Hall a few paces behind his two friends. It was one thing that Blaise had noticed; though most of Hogwarts had noticed the distance between the golden trio by now. They were still always together but Harry always seemed to be trailing behind his two best friends.

Blaise was sure that is what had first drawn his attention to the Gryffindor because there was no other reason why he should be watching the other boy, and no reason why he should feel so irritated that no one else had noticed what he thought were painfully obvious changes, such as how tired and thin Harry looked. Even now the boy looked like he was nearly wasting away. Blaise really did have to wonder why no one else saw it, the pale skin, the dark circles under the green eyes that seemed dull and lifeless. It made Blaise curious as to what would cause such a drastic change; he would have thought that killing Voldemort at the ministry last year would have given Harry a new freedom on life that he hadn't had before but that didn't seem to be the case.

Blaise narrowed his eyes slightly as he continued watching Harry, the smaller boy all but falling into his seat at the Gryffindor table. No, something had happened to Harry Potter and Blaise was determined to find out what it was. Since no one else seemed to care what was happening, he was going to have to take action on his own.

"You're doing it again, Blaise." A voice cut into his thoughts and Blaise turned his attention to Theodore Nott, who was sitting across from him at the table.

"What am I doing again?" Blaise asked, not willing to admit to himself how much effort it was taking not to return his attention back to the Gryffindor table.

Theodore chuckled and turned his head around to look in the direction that Blaise had been staring. "Someone over there has caught your attention," Theo stated, turning again to look back at Blaise with a small smirk "Care to give me a hint as to who it is?"

"It's none of your business," Blaise said, taking a few bites of his food that he had stopped eating when Harry had entered the Great Hall.

"I bet if Draco were here he'd be able to guess." Theo laughed at the glare that Blaise gave him.

"Draco doesn't know me as well as he thinks he does, and neither do you," Blaise snapped and he stood up; ignoring the confused look he was getting from Theodore, he gathered up his things, leaving the table without saying a word.

Blaise paused by the door to the Great Hall; he couldn't stop himself from looking at the Gryffindor table again, his eyes immediately landing on Harry. Something in his stomach clenched when Harry lifted his head and stared right at him; violet eyes locked with green and Blaise felt a small pull towards the boy who looked so tired and frail. Blaise felt the sudden urge to protect Harry, from what he didn't know, but he knew this feeling, and what had happened last time he had felt this need to protect someone.

Harry opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but his attention was stolen by one of his friends and that small moment of connection was gone. Blaise turned and continued on his way out of the Great Hall, quickening his pace before he could do something foolish like listen to what his instincts were telling him.

-x

Harry frowned as he stared at the doors to the Great Hall; he had caught that Slytherin staring at him again, not that Harry wasn't used to people staring at him, however, there was something different about that tan boy. Letting out a long sigh, he tried to turn his attention back to Ron; he knew that the red-head had been talking, however, Harry was just far too tired to really pay attention to anything that his friend was saying.

"Oi, Harry. Are you even listening, mate?" Ron asked, frowning when he finally realised that Harry hadn't actually been joining in the conversation at all.

"Sorry, Ron, I'm just really tired," Harry admitted, that was nothing new for him though, as he didn't seem to have the energy to do anything lately, even eating seemed to be too much effort at the moment. Harry looked back down at his plate and frowned before pushing it away; the thought of eating right now was making him feel sick.

"Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey?" Hermione suggested in concern for her friend. She had noticed how tired Harry was all the time, however, she had been willing to let that slide until recently when Harry had started skipping meals completely, and she could think of at least three days in the last month that Harry hadn't eaten at all.

Ron nodded his agreement. "Yeah, mate, you really don't look so well, and you've been tired since you came to The Burrow this past summer. I know that we promised to stay off your back this year but I'm starting to get worried that something might actually be wrong," Ron said and Harry blinked at the two of them before nodding.

"Alright, I'll go to the Hospital Wing." Harry didn't have the energy to argue really, he didn't have the energy for anything anymore, and no matter how much he slept he always woke up feeling more tired than he had before sleeping; even Harry knew that wasn't normal.

Shifting out of his seat slowly, Harry stood up; however, he kept his hand on the table when he felt a wave of tiredness wash over him. He leaned heavily on the table, waiting until he was sure he could stand on his own. Ron and Hermione looked at each other, before the both of them stood up, moving to stand on either side of their friend. Harry blinked at them and tried to wave them off.

"I'm fine," Harry said, sounding even more tired than he had a few moments ago.

"You look like you're about to fall over, we want to make sure you actually make it to the Hospital Wing," Ron said and Harry snorted in amusement.

"You mean you want to make sure I really go?" Harry shot back, giving Ron a tired smile, and the redhead looked a little guilty at that. "Honestly, I am too tired to argue about anything right now," Harry told him, and allowed Ron and Hermione to help him out of the Great Hall, chuckling as people didn't even wait for him to leave before the whispers and staring started.

"Great, I'll be dying of some unknown cause by morning," Harry joked, though Ron and Hermione didn't seem to find it funny. Shaking his head with a sigh, Harry fell silent as he was lead in the direction of the Hospital Wing.

Harry looked around when they arrived at the Hospital Wing, frowning when he didn't see the school nurse anywhere. Leaning more heavily on Ron, Harry let out a tired sigh. The redhead gave his friend a worried look. "You doin' okay?" Ron asked. Harry blinked slowly at Ron and his frown deepened as his vision started to blur slightly. He was only vaguely aware of Hermione leaving his side and hurrying across the room to Pomfrey's office to locate where the nurse went.

"'m fine," Harry finally answered Ron's question, that seemed to have only just registered to him. "...maybe should sit down..." Harry said and Ron nodded his agreement, helping Harry over to one of the beds; Harry practically fell onto the mattress

Harry looked around the room; he had spent so much time in there since his first year. This was the first school year that Harry hadn't been in there for anything, with it being the middle of March, Harry figured he could consider this a personal record. Though, thinking about it now, with how tired he was feeling and the fact that he hadn't been able to sleep or eat properly for months, Harry had to wonder if he shouldn't have come up here to see Pomfrey sooner than this; being so tired for so long really couldn't be normal.

As he let his eyes close, Harry wasn't quite sure how he had managed to survive the summer being this tired, though he suspected it had to do with the fact that he had managed to sneak in short naps here and there throughout the day. He had brought it up to Ron once as well and, while the red-head had been concerned, they had both decided that it was probably just fatigue; after all, it had taken a lot out of him to kill Voldemort during the fight at the Ministry at the end of school the previous year. Surely someone couldn't use that much magic all at once and not suffer for it afterwards.

Harry had figured that his body had just shut down and was trying to get some much needed rest; however, now that he was back at school, it didn't seem to matter how much he slept, or how much he ate, it was never enough. He was always tired and lately had even been falling asleep in classes, and over the previous weekend he had managed to sleep all day Saturday, waking up Sunday afternoon feeling famished. That burst of energy had only lasted until his second class on Monday, when he had fallen asleep at his desk.

"Mr. Potter?" Pomfrey's voice sounded far away and Harry had to struggle to open his eyes. The black-haired boy blinked slowly up at the school nurse, who frowned at him. He was slightly confused when he found himself lying down on the bed; he didn't remember lying down at all.

"He's been really tired lately, and I don't think he's really eaten anything today," Hermione explained as she pulled Ron's arm so that the two of them were out of Pomfrey's way.

"'m just tired," Harry said, letting his eyes fall shut again, unable to keep them open when he felt another wave of tiredness wash over him.

"I do not think you should sleep just yet, Mr. Potter," Pomfrey said as she pulled her wand out. "Can you sit up for me?" she asked. The only response she got, however, was bright green eyes opening to blink up at her his brow furrowed in confusion as he tried to process the request.

Pomfrey looked more concerned with the lack of response. "Perhaps if you can you roll onto your back?" she asked. Again it took a moment before Harry responded, though still not verbally. The small boy rolled onto his back with a slight gasp; the small movement seemed to have taken a lot out of him and Harry was looking really pale as he lay there struggling to stay awake. However, he was obviously fighting a losing battle.

Pomfrey looked to Ron and Hermione. "How long has he been like this?" she questioned and Hermione frowned, looking to Ron.

"We're not sure. He spent the last half of the summer with me," Ron informed her, "and he seemed pretty tired then, but not like this. We thought it was because of the fight at the ministry last year," Ron explained, exchanging a look with Hermione; he couldn't help but think that they really should have known something was wrong.

Pomfrey nodded, looking back at Harry, who had lost the struggle of staying awake, as his eyes were closed and he was breathing was deep. "I would like to check a few things, however, I think I may need to speak with the Headmaster." Pomfrey gave Ron and Hermione a pointed look. "If you two could fetch him for me?" she requested.

Hermione nodded, grabbing Ron's arm and pulling him out of the hospital wing with her. The door closing the door behind them as they left. Ron glared back at the door as Hermione dragged him down the hallway. "She just wanted us out of there," Ron complained, though he followed Hermione willingly enough.

"I know, but if us not being in there helps her find out what's wrong with Harry then I don't care," Hermione said, hurrying in the direction of the Great Hall.

-x

Pomfrey stood next to Harry's bed looking at the exhausted boy who had fallen asleep. She would have preferred that Harry remain awake while she tried to find what it was making the boy so tired. She also would have liked the chance to reprimand him for waiting so long before seeking help, though she wasn't surprised in the slightest, as Harry had been this way since his first year. She had never met an eleven year old that was so independent, and over the past five years nothing had changed.

Waving her wand over Harry's sleeping form, Pomfrey started casting all the basic diagnostic spells she knew, one after another. Her frown deepened with each result she saw; the readings she was getting were far from normal. Harry had lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time, though that was easy enough to tell just by looking at him, and that was particularly concerning because Harry had already been so underweight to start with.

However, what caught her attention the most was the diagnostics on his magical core; it was so dangerously low that Pomfrey had to wonder why the only sign that would indicate damages core was the fact that Harry was exhausted. With how low his core was, there should have been more signs, and most of all there should have been no way for Harry to even be conscious.

The doors to the hospital wing opened again and Dumbledore came in, being followed closely by Ron and Hermione. "What has happened?" he questioned, coming to stand next to Pomfrey.

The medi-witch didn't look up from Harry, waving her wand over the sleeping boy again; she wanted to find the cause of what had damaged Harry's magical core, though she was now reluctant to use anything to strong, knowing it would potentially cause further harm to his magical core. However, she needed to know if there was anything else wrong before she could administer any potions.

"I am unsure, Headmaster," she answered, keeping her attention on Harry as she cast another diagnostic spell. "Something is making him very weak; his magical core is almost depleted and I cannot find the cause of it. Though I have only done a few weaker spells at the moment, I am reluctant to use anything stronger." She looked at Dumbledore, before her attention drifted toward Ron and Hermione. The two of them were standing slightly behind the Headmaster and both of them were looking worriedly at Harry.

Dumbledore also turned to look at the two students and sighed; he really didn't want to kick them out but he knew that Pomfrey would need the space to work with as few people around as possible. "I think it might be for the best if you two returned to your dinner in the Great Hall," he suggested. "You will be kept updated on Harry but for right now I think it would be best if you allow Madam Pomfrey to work without distractions."

Ron wanted to protest but Hermione grabbed his arm, speaking before he could. "Can we come back later to check on him?" Hermione requested ignoring the glare that Ron sent her way. He thankfully remained quiet.

"I don't see why not," Dumbledore answered.

Taking a deep breath Hermione nodded, pulling Ron along with her; the two of them left the room. Hermione was able to give one more worried glance towards Harry's bed before the door was closed. Sighing she moved to stand next to the opposite wall, Ron copied her, neither of them had any intentions of heading back to finish their dinner.

Inside the hospital wing, Dumbledore turned his attention back to Pomfrey; the witch was in the process of making a list. He watched her patiently for a moment and once she was done, she turned and handed the list to Dumbledore; the Headmaster glanced at the small piece of parchment, which had a list of potions Pomfrey was going to need.

"Severus has these potions. I will need his help to administer them as well," the nurse told him and she turned her full attention back to Harry.

Dumbledore nodded his understanding. "I will bring him here immediately," he said, taking a moment to look at Harry. The boy had been through so much; Dumbledore had hoped that, with Voldemort gone, things would have started to look better for the teen. He turned quickly and went straight to Pomfrey's office to use the floo. He knew that Snape would be in his own rooms at the moment; it was where the potions master spent most of his meals lately, due to the fact that there had been some trouble with one of the Slytherin students

-x

After leaving the Great Hall, Blaise had gone straight down to his Head of House's rooms. It was more than a little annoying having to come down here every night when he felt perfectly fine, however, other times it was such a help that Blaise never complained too much. Blaise had taken his usual seat on the settee, while Snape sat comfortably in his high back chair closer to the fire where there was better light for reading. Though this evening was turning out to be much like any other, where they both sat in silence, Snape was watching Blaise a little more closely than usual.

Blaise tried to ignore the fact that he was being watched, trying to focus on the school book he was currently reading. This was proving to be difficult as his mind kept flashing back to Harry Potter, and the question of what could have caused the other boy's health to deteriorate so rapidly. And every time he thought of Harry, his back would twinge in pain causing him to shift restlessly.

Snape allowed this to go on for nearly half an hour before speaking. "If your back is bothering you, you are free to stretch out in here," Snape said, though Blaise already knew what he was allowed to do.

"I'm fine," the tan boy insisted with a shrug, wincing as he felt something pull painfully in his shoulder.

"I thought you would have learned your lesson last time. If you get a cramp I do not have anything that will help you," Snape reminded his student.

Blaise let out a loud sigh, leaning further back against the settee. "I know, I know," he said staring up at the ceiling for a moment. "I just don't know what's wrong today. I've been fine recently but I just can't shake this feeling that something is going to happen," Blaise admitted glancing at his Potions teacher.

Snape frowned, setting the book he had been reading aside. "The last time you mentioned feeling like this, you attacked a fellow student," Snape said seriously.

Blaise sighed again, running a hand through his shoulder length black hair. "That was only once. I've been taking precautions to make sure that it doesn't happen again," Blaise said. "And that is why I came here earlier than usual tonight. I just wish I knew why I was feeling like this, I was fine through most of dinner," Blaise explained, unsure if he should mention that he started feeling uneasy after he had been watching Harry Potter.

Blaise knew that he had been lucky not to have gotten in more trouble the last time something like this had come up. It had been proven that it wasn't entirely his fault after he had been forced to tell not only his Head of House, but the Headmaster as well, about what he was, and why he had attacked that Ravenclaw. Though his actions had been mostly excused, and he was allowed to remain in school, Blaise had still gotten detention for it, and he had to come down to Snape's quarters each night until he had his creature inheritance under control.

Blaise couldn't help but sneer at the thought of being called a 'creature', mostly because being called a creature implied that he was some sort of animal, and that was most definitely not true. The tan boy ignored the tiny voice in the back of his head that told him that he had attacked someone without reason because he had definitely had a reason for attacking that Ravenclaw; they had had no right to corner his friend like that. The only other person Blaise knew to have the same creature inheritance as himself had been cornered and needed his protection. Just the thought of it still made Blaise hiss with anger, rotating his shoulder's painfully.

Blaise was pulled abruptly from his thoughts when the fireplace lit up suddenly, Dumbledore's head appearing in the flames. The Headmaster took a moment to look from Snape to Blaise and back again. "I am sorry to interrupt, Severus, there is an urgent matter and Poppy requires your assistance in the hospital wing," Dumbledore said and Snape frowned.

"There is an urgent matter here as well," Snape said, glancing in the direction of Blaise.

"Yes, I do understand, however, there is a student whose magical core is dangerously low, and Poppy needs quite a few potions to stop whatever has caused the boy's core to be damaged so drastically without anyone noticing until now," Dumbledore said, clearly unwilling to mention the students name.

"Surely there she knows enough spells to stabilise the boy until I am able to get up there," Snape said, not all that comfortable with leaving Blaise when the tan boy was in such a state.

"She has used a few minor spells but she is reluctant to use anything stronger. She has requested that you bring these potions with you." Dumbledore handed the paper through the fire and Snape stood so he could take it. Looking over the list of potions, Snape frowned, his expression turning more serious.

"Very well, I will be up as quickly as I can," Snape said. Dumbledore nodded and his head vanished from the fire, leaving it empty again. Blaise frowned as well, looking at the fireplace before turning attention towards his Head of House, as Snape went to his personal stores to gather the potions from the list that he had been given.

"Should I go back to my room?" Blaise asked; the situation sounded serious and if Snape wasn't going to be here, then it was pointless for Blaise to remain in his teacher's rooms.

Snape paused and looked out of the store room at Blaise. He was reluctant to leave the boy there alone since Blaise was clearly uneasy about something. However, this room was supposed to be a safe place for the teenager and so kicking him out now wasn't much of an option either. "If you wish to remain here to clear your mind, away from other students, you may," Snape told him. "Though I am unsure how long this is going to take."

Blaise nodded his head in understanding as he stood. "Alright." The tan boy stretched his arms over his head trying to loosen the tight muscles in his back. "I should be fine if I leave. I'm a bit uneasy but I should be fine if I clear my mind, that's something that's been helping a lot," Blaise said. Even though he would have liked to stay in here a bit longer, it felt awkward to be in his Professor's rooms when the man was there, the tan boy thought it might feel even more strange when Snape wasn't.

Snape nodded his head once, trusting Blaise in this. The boy was smart and if he thought it would be fine then Snape had no reason not to believed him. "I will leave the door unlocked. If you need to, come back here," Snape informed him. Blaise just nodded and left the room.

The Potions master grabbed the last few potions he needed before he too left the room, quickly heading up toward the Hospital wing. Though it would have been a lot faster to just take the floo, it wasn't a smart thing to do when holding so many potions, so Snape simply took the hidden staircase that had been put in for times such as these.

He managed to make it up to the Hospital wing in a few short minutes, pausing for only a moment when he saw Ron and Hermione waiting outside the room, letting out a slightly annoyed sigh as he knew immediately who it was Pomfrey needed help with. Snape walked past Ron and Hermione, not saying anything to them as he went into the Hospital Wing to see what it was that Harry Potter had managed to do to himself this time.

-x

Harry wanted to move, had been trying to for what felt like hours, however, his whole body felt as if it was being weighed down by something, it wasn't a very comfortable feeling. Giving up on moving for now, Harry tried to call out for help, for someone to come and help him move again, only to find that his voice wasn't working either. He didn't know what was going on; he couldn't use his voice, or move on his own.

He was resigned to just lie there until whatever spell or curse was on him was lifted, that was until he felt his arm move, and he was fairly sure he wasn't the one who had moved it. One of his legs moved next and it was with a small pang of fear that Harry recognised the feeling; it felt very close to how he had felt when Voldemort had possessed him. Trying to hold onto his sudden panic, Harry tried to struggle against whatever it was that was possessing him; he refused to lie there and do nothing and allow some unknown entity control his body. Struggling harder when he felt something grab hold of him, his panic stared to rise. 'Not again,' Harry thought desperately, he didn't want to go through this again.

Harry could hear far away voices, they sounded familiar but he ignored them. He needed to concentrate on getting free, he needed to find out what was possessing him and destroy it before it was too late. A very familiar annoyed sounding voice broke through Harry's panic.

"Idiot child, stop moving around!" Snape snapped. Harry's struggles stopped and he frowned in confusion; he may not like his Potions Professor, but in some weird way Harry did trust the man.

"...Snape...?" Harry said, more than a little surprised to find that he could in fact speak. Inspecting further, he discovered that he could also move on his own. The weight that had been holding him down was gone, though Harry discovered that his arms still felt heavier than usual. His frown deepened as he slowly opened his eyes, blinking up at the dark outline of who he assumed to be Snape.

"Mr. Potter, it is good to see you awake," Pomfrey said from the other side of the bed and Harry turned his attention toward her, trying to figure out what had happened to land him in the Hospital Wing, as Harry could only assume that's where he was, if Pomfrey was here. However, Harry couldn't think of anything that would have led to him being here, he hadn't been injured or hurt, just really tired.

"What happened?" Harry asked as he started to wake up a bit more, watching Pomfrey when she started waving her wand over him.

"Your magical core was so depleted that you lost consciousness," Snape informed him as Pomfrey continued running her diagnostic spells. "I am curious to know what it is you could have been doing that would get your magical core down that low in such a short amount of time," Snape said because, to his knowledge, Harry had been perfectly fine during classes on Friday. The Potions teacher watched Harry as the teenager sat up to reach out to the bedside table for his glasses.

"I don't know, sir, I've just been really tired lately. I just thought I hadn't been sleeping well," Harry admitted.

"And how long exactly have you been this tired?" Snape questioned taking a moment to glance at Pomfrey, who was still looking worriedly at the readings she was getting.

Harry's cheeks turned slightly pink and he looked away from Snape. "Since last summer?" Harry said, though he didn't sound too sure about it himself. "I don't really know; I first noticed it when I went to stay with Ron at The Burrow but it was never that bad; it got worse when I got to school though... I thought..." Harry clenched his hands into fists to stop himself from fidgeting with anything. "I thought I was still recovering from the fight at the ministry," Harry admitted.

Snape raised an eyebrow at the boy. "While that is a logical conclusion to come to, a summer of rest, and perhaps even the first month of school should have been more than enough time for you to recover from that," Snape pointed out. "You should have sought out help long before now, and as a result your magical core is damaged," Snape informed him and Harry looked up sharply, eyes wide, before looking quickly over at Pomfrey.

"What... what does that mean?" he asked, trying not to sound afraid of what the answer may be. Harry might not have read as many books as Hermione, however, he knew enough about magical cores to know that if it was damaged, a witch or wizard could be in danger of losing their magic. And though it was rare, in some serious cases people had also died from it because a magical core wasn't just the source of a person's magic, it was a part of their life.

Pomfrey lowered her wand. "As of right now it doesn't mean anything, Mr. Potter; I do not know what caused your magical core to drop so low, but it appears to have stopped," Pomfrey said.

Harry sighed and lay back down on the bed, closing his eyes in relief. His magical core was fine and whatever had been draining it had stopped. Surely that was a good thing.

"I would like to keep you here overnight," Pomfrey told him and Harry just nodded, he had no intention of arguing with her this time. "I want you to get some more rest though; your magical core is still low, though it seems to slowly be getting better," Pomfrey informed him and Harry could only nod his head again, already falling asleep; despite the fact that he had just woken up, he still felt very drained and tired.

Snape stood by and watched as the boy fell asleep, before turning his attention to Pomfrey. There was something more going on, he could tell by the look on the witch's face.

"Thank you for your help, Severus," she said, pulling the blanket back up over Harry. "I still wasn't able to find the cause of what drained his magic. It worries me that it has been going on for so long, and the fact that he wasn't showing any normal signs of having a damaged core," Pomfrey said, still looking worriedly at the boy.

"If there is nothing more you need of me, I will return to my rooms," Snape said and Pomfrey nodded. "I will leave the potions with you, as I get the feeling that this was not a one-time occurrence and you may need them again," Snape said, handing the last few potions over to the medi-witch. "If you require my assistance again you know where to find me."

With that, Snape turned and left the hospital wing; he didn't understand how anyone could not have noticed their own magic being drained away. Thinking back to the classes that he had had Harry in that year, both Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, the boy had shown no signs that his magic was nearly non-existent. He had performed spells almost perfectly in DADA, and while his performance in Potions hadn't gotten all that much better, it hadn't gotten any worse either. It truly was a puzzling situation.

-x

Draco Malfoy was angry, though he felt that 'angry' wasn't a strong enough word to describe how he felt at the moment. He stood, pacing the full length of the room he had been given, unable to stop himself from comparing it to his rooms at Malfoy Manor, which in his mind were a lot bigger and grander then this tiny room he had been shoved in.

"I was informed that you were attempting to wear a hole in the floor again." A voice from the doorway had Draco pausing mid step to glare at the person standing there. Chestnut, shoulder-length hair was neatly pulled back into a loose ponytail to reveal a freshly shaven face, the man's mouth pulled into a frown. Piercing amber eyes watching the younger blond before him.

Draco felt his chest flutter like it did nearly every time he saw this man. Draco had felt drawn to this man since the first time he met him. There was just something appealing about him, though Draco couldn't quite figure out what it was, perhaps it was his gentleness, or the way he treated him like a person and not some creature, not some 'son of a death eater'. To Darius Stanberg, he was just Draco. But despite that, Darius was the last person that Draco wanted to see right now.

"Leave me alone," Draco snapped and he continued his pacing. He really did like this man's company, he liked the feeling of being safe, of being wanted, but Darius was part of the reason he was angry at the moment.

Darius sighed and stepped further into the room. "Something has upset you," he said, stepping closer to the younger blond. "Are you going to tell me what it is, or do I have to guess?" He sounded amused, like this was nothing more than a game for him, and that just fueled Draco's anger. Draco spun quickly and lunged at him.

Darius had expected this though, as Draco had done this more than once, and so caught Draco, easily pinning the smaller boy's arms to his sides.

"Let me go!" Draco yelled, trying to pull away from this man now and black wings, that had a blue shimmer to them when the light hit them just right, sprang from Draco's back. The blond bit his lip against the pain of it, though it wasn't close to being as painful as the first time it had happened.

Larger black wings quickly wrapped around Draco, making it near impossible for the blond to move as Darius pulled him closer. "Tell me what has got you so angry this time," Darius requested, his voice gentle but still demanding. Draco rested his head against the broad chest.

"I hate you," Draco mumbled. "I hate all of this."

Darius sighed slowly, letting go of Draco's arms, though he kept his wings wrapped snugly around him. "I have told you before, I will not apologise for any of this. You are what you are and there is nothing that can be done about that. Of course, I could have just left you with Rodric," Darius said and felt horrible when he felt the shudder run through Draco, the smaller body pressing closer to him. Darius ran his hand soothingly through Draco's blond hair. "I should not have said that."

He never would have left Draco with that man; Rodric had a reputation in the city due to the fact that the man had had three submissive mates already, and all three of them had died from apparently 'natural causes'. But Darius, among many others, thought it very strange that three seemingly healthy people had been mated to the same person, only to end up dead within three years. The problem was that no one had any proof that the man had been involved with their deaths at all. But when Rodric had shown up with a new submissive that wasn't his mate, the court acted quickly.

"No, you shouldn't have said that," Draco agreed, but didn't pull away. "And I have every right to be angry right now," the blond boy insisted.

Darius sighed in frustration yet again, calming himself. "You can be angry but I have warned you that I will not tolerate you attacking me for no reason, Draco. It is not my fault that your parents hid your creature inheritance from you, nor is it my fault that the counsel elders practically forced you to choose a mate so quickly. I am only trying to help you. Now, will you tell me what has you so angry?"

Draco let out a long sigh and moved to pull away from the warmth and comfort, but Darius held him tighter. "I can't talk like this," Draco said, still trying to pull away. Darius reluctantly let him go, watching the blond carefully, waiting for any signs that Draco was going to try attacking again.

Draco, however, just pulled away and took a few steps back stretching his arms and wings out, wincing at the pain in his back. Darius shook his head going over to the desk nearby and pulling out the chair for Draco. "Sit down, Draco, and tell me what is bothering you," Darius ordered.

Draco glared at him; one thing that he could do to live without was being ordered around by Darius. However, Draco sat down anyway; it wasn't a good idea to continue arguing right now, there would be plenty of time for that later. He was tense, and trying to keep an eye on where Darius was standing behind him, and jumped slightly when he felt a hand touch his shoulder; however, Darius just started rubbing his shoulders, moving slowly down his back, easing away the tension and pain away.

Draco closed his eyes, letting out a content sigh without really meaning to. Darius really was very gentle with him and Draco wondered if that was why he was so cautious with the man. No one in his life had ever been gentle with him, except perhaps his mother. But even then, hugs from her had stopped when he was eleven.

"Draco," Darius prompted and Draco sighed again as he remembered he was supposed to be angry with the man rubbing his back.

"You took a job at Hogwarts," Draco finally said. "I told you that I didn't want to go back but you went ahead and took the job."

Darius continued rubbing Draco's shoulders. "I was offered the job and I took it. I know you didn't want to go back to school, though you never did give me any reason why; but whatever the reason, I will be there with you. You can continue your schooling and become a healer like you said you wanted to." Darius leaned down kissing Draco's cheek, smiling when the blond swatted him away, wiping his cheek. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you." Darius grinned when he felt Draco lean back into his hands.

"I'm still not happy about it," Draco grumbled and Darius chuckled.

"I know." The older man continued rubbing Draco's shoulders, easing the rest of the tension from them. He only stopped when Draco started sagging in the chair, indicating that he was starting to fall asleep. Darius shifted Draco and lifted him out of the chair, ignoring the soft noise of protest from the blond as he carried him to bed. He laid him down and watched as Draco curled up, wrapping those wings around himself as though trying to hide from the world, even in his sleep.

It made his chest hurt sometimes when he watched Draco. The boy was nearly seventeen and was so guarded and tried to hide himself away. Darius knew that if he ever truly wanted to be with Draco it was going to take a lot of work. But there had been a few moments in the last three months that had shown Darius that the blond would be worth fighting for.

-x

It had been two weeks since Harry's trip to the Hospital Wing, and he looked better than he had in months. That was the first thing that Blaise noticed about Harry when he caught sight of the smaller boy one morning during breakfast. The tan boy was relieved; whatever had been wrong with Harry seemed to have been fixed, which meant that he didn't have to get involved. However, Blaise's relief had only lasted for a few moments when he had realised that he still couldn't keep his eyes off the green eyed boy. Even though he kept telling himself that there was nothing wrong, there was still a sense of needing to help.

Blaise growled in frustration as he forced himself to focus on his breakfast, telling himself that Harry was fine, he looked like his normal lively self again, not someone who looked like they were going to drop over dead at any second. So there was no reason for Blaise to get involved, no reason for him to want to help the small Gryffindor.

"Did you hear?" someone further down the table hissed quietly, though Blaise knew that they meant for as many people to hear this as possible, otherwise they would have been talking quieter. "Apparently Potter is dying; he's been up to the Hospital Wing every day for the last few weeks because no one can figure out what's wrong," the younger Slytherin said.

"And how do you know this?" one of the older years asked before Blaise could speak up, something he was grateful for mostly because he didn't want anyone to know how interested he was in Potter's health.

"I was in there the past few days visiting one of my friends and each day Potter came in, Pomfrey gave him a quick check before making him drink at least two or three different potions, he complained about having to take the same nasty potion every day for two weeks," the younger year said, trying to put on an act like they knew exactly what they were talking about. Blaise shook his head tuning out the rest of the conversation; their information meant nothing.

Though, if there was even the slightest bit of truth to what the younger Slytherin had said, it almost made sense to Blaise that he was still watching Harry; the other boy seemed to be doing fine now but every time they were in the same room together, Blaise still found himself staring at the black-haired boy. And on more than one occasion those green eyes had locked with his, and there had been a pull towards the boy, the sense of someone needing his help.

Lifting his eyes towards the Gryffindor table again Blaise was surprised to find the green eyes already staring at him. There was such a strong urge to go over to the other boy that Blaise had been half way out of his seat when the connection had been broken. Harry was focused once again on his friends, ignoring the intense look that Blaise was giving him at the moment.

Blaise tensed when he felt his wings moving restlessly under his skin. Standing the rest of the way and ignoring the questions from Theodore and Pansy, he left the Great Hall as quickly as he could. He was thankful to find the doors to Snape's rooms had been left open as promised, bursting through the door and slamming it shut, Blaise cried out as his wings burst from his back, ripping the shirt and robes he had been wearing. There hadn't even been time to try and clear his mind and calm down; his back now throbbing in pain, Blaise curled up on the floor, trying to calm himself down now.

This was how Snape had found him, crumpled on the floor, still unable to move from the pain. The Potions Professor hadn't said anything as he went and got a pain potion for Blaise to drink before easing him off the floor and onto the settee.

Blaise sighed in frustration as he wasn't able to lean back fully because his wings were still out, but he was at least thankful that his back didn't hurt any more. Closing his eyes, Blaise waited for the questioning to start.

"What caused you to lose control?" Snape asked and Blaise sighed; he had hoped that Snape would have waited a few more moments before starting.

"I honestly don't know, sir, one moment I was fine, the next I couldn't stop it," Blaise said, looking at his potions teacher. It probably wasn't the answer that this teacher wanted to hear but Blaise honestly didn't know why he had lost control so suddenly like that; even as he ignored the fact that he had once again been staring at Harry when it happened.

"It is a good thing then that we have finally found a Fallen that has agreed to come here and teach you," Snape informed the tan boy. "They will be arriving at the school this evening and will be taking over as my assistant in Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, and on occasion they will oversee a Potions class or two," Snape said.

Blaise stared at him in surprise. "You really found someone?" Blaise asked and his wings seemed to sag in relief at that news, as the tension drained out of his shoulders. Snape had been doing his best and what he had suggested had helped a lot, however, Blaise still felt as if he was missing a lot of information.

"Dumbledore has been looking for an assistant for me and, after discovering your inheritance, the Headmaster has been in contact with the other Fallen. Most of them were not willing to travel out here to teach one child, but another situation was brought to our attention that will work in our favor." Snape looked at Blaise, wondering how much information to tell this boy, but decided that it would be best to inform him of everything, due to the fact that Draco would also be returning to the school. "You are aware that Draco was pulled from school abruptly a few months ago," Snape said, watching Blaise's shoulders tense up again, the black and purple wings twitching.

"Yes, I remember," Blaise said; it was a hard thing to forget since Draco had been pulled from the school right after Blaise had attacked that Ravenclaw, though Blaise was fairly sure those two instances weren't entirely connected.

"It would appear that Draco is a Fallen," Snape informed him and Blaise stared at his teacher for a moment, mostly because he had been under the impression that Draco hadn't told anyone about his own creature inheritance. The only reason Blaise had found out was because he had walked in on Draco when the other boy had had his wings out, examining them in the bathroom one morning. "We have also been informed that he is a submissive Fallen," Snape continued, "and though I was not given the full reason as to why he was pulled from school, he will be arriving with the new assistant teacher," Snape said, watching Blaise carefully for his reactions to all of this.

"Draco is a submissive?" Blaise asked, looking surprised but thoughtful. "So I suppose if you don't know why he was pulled from school, you don't know why he's suddenly coming back?"

"I do not, you will have to ask Draco that when he returns this evening. The assistant will be introduced to the school in the morning but I wish for you to have dinner down here tonight so that you may meet Mr. Stanberg," Snape told him and Blaise nodded.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Blaise said, standing up and stretching his wings out to relieve the rest of the tension in his shoulders. He wasn't in the habit of taking them out too often, however, every time he did he was still amazed at the look and feel of them; the feathers were always so soft and the coloring was mostly black until the light hit them just right and you could see that there were shades of purple mixed in.

"Will you be alright for classes today?" Snape questioned, worried that if Blaise had already lost control this morning for an unknown reason that there would be a repeat incident.

"I think I should be fine. I feel better, and just knowing that someone else is going to be in the school that can teach me more helps a lot," Blaise said, stretching his wings out again.

He remained with Snape in his rooms until it was time to get ready for classes, wanting to make the most of the time with his wings out and to make sure that he had full control of himself.

"I'll be back down here before dinner," Blaise said as he went to leave Snape's rooms, the Potions Master just nodding in understanding as he prepared to leave for his own classes as well.

-x

Later that evening Snape was called up to Dumbledore's office to greet Darius. As the younger man would be his assistant, Dumbledore had decided that it was only fair that Snape be the one to show the man around the school. When the Potions Master walked into the Headmaster's office, it was to see Draco standing rather close to a man who Snape could only assume was Darius Stanberg. The man had a stern look to him as he discreetly wrapped an arm around Draco's waist, pulling the teen closer. Snape found it a little surprising that Draco actually leaned into the small embrace.

"Ah, Severus, right on time," Dumbledore greeted with a smile, a twinkle in those blue eyes as he stood up behind his desk. "Darius, this is our Potions professor, and for this year our temporary Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the sixth and seventh years," the elder wizard introduced.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. Draco has told me a little bit about you," Darius said, smiling politely and holding out his hand, which Snape ignored, though Darius didn't seem to be put off by the fact that Snape didn't return the gesture. The potions master did nod once in Darius' direction before his attention turned to Draco. Grey eyes locked with Snape's for a moment before looking away quickly.

Snape turned his attention back to Dumbledore, who was still smiling at him, that annoying twinkle ever present in his eyes. "If you excuse us, Headmaster, Mr. Zabini is currently waiting for us," Snape informed him. He had not informed Dumbledore about Blaise's near slip earlier that day; as the tan boy hadn't attacked anyone he didn't think it was something the Headmaster needed to be told about at the moment. And things would hopefully get easier for Blaise now that there was another Fallen in the school who was willing to teach the boy.

"Of course, Severus," Dumbledore said, with a nod of his head, trusting that Severus had everything in hand.

The Potion Master turned to Darius once more. "Follow me," he instructed, before turning and heading out the door without another word, not evening bothering to see if the assistant and Draco were indeed following him.

Darius chuckled and, taking Draco's hand, the two of them followed Snape out of Dumbledore's office. "Your Potions Professor seems like a very charming person," Darius said, looking at Draco, who raised a blond eyebrow at him.

"You have a strange idea of what counts for 'charming'," Draco said in a near whisper, looking worriedly in front of him to where Snape was, as if afraid that his teacher would hear him.

"He's as charming as you are," Darius said, grinning at the wide-eyed almost hurtful look that Draco gave him. "I'm teasing." He laughed when the hurtful look changed to annoyance and Draco pulled away from him, walking a little faster so that he was now walking next to Snape.

"Sir, would it be alright if I just went to my rooms? Or I could just go eat dinner in the Great Hall," Draco said; he was not very comfortable about the idea of seeing Blaise so soon after returning to the school. Snape glanced at him, though kept walking in the direction of his rooms.

"Dumbledore has set up private rooms for you and your... friend," he said, unsure of how he should refer to Draco's relationship with a man that was obviously older then the teen.

Draco looked surprised by this and looked back at Darius, wondering if the man knew that Draco would be staying in the same rooms as him, but with how Darius was grinning at him, the blond was sure he already knew. Huffing, Draco turned his head back around to watch where they were walking; he was conflicted, he knew that it would be impossible to avoid Blaise completely, he just hadn't been prepared to see him so soon. The tan boy had been a very good friend to him, however, at the same time, Draco also didn't know how much things had changed since his absence. The last he had seen Blaise was when he had attacked that Ravenclaw, who had cornered Draco in a deserted hallway.

At the time Draco hadn't realised that he had been sending out a silent distress call, Blaise had just suddenly shown up and pulled the other student away from him and started punching him. Draco hadn't stayed to find out what the outcome of that had been. By the time the mess had been settled and Blaise was allowed to stay in the school, Draco had already been on his way home.

All too soon for Draco's liking, they reached Snape's rooms and Draco moved back to stand closer to Darius. He wasn't afraid to see Blaise but he was worried how his friend was going to react to all of this, it had been three months and the only thing Blaise would know is that Draco had vanished for three months after the attack.

Darius glanced down at Draco, frowning slightly when he felt the blond teen press against him; it was painfully obvious how much Draco didn't want to be here, though the blond was still reluctant to tell him anything about why he was so worried. It had Darius on edge already, feeling the smaller boy press back against him; if it hadn't been for his years of practice, Darius knew that his wings would have come out to wrap around Draco for extra protection.

"I'm right here, Draco," Darius whispered to him and gently led him into the room after Snape.

Amber eyes scanned the room, settling on the other boy that was standing next to the settee. Darius had been told about him already but, feeling Draco stiffen in his arms at the sight of this tan-skinned boy, had Darius glaring at him, coming to the assumption that perhaps this boy was the reason that Draco didn't want to be here.

"Blaise, this is Darius Stanberg," Snape said, watching Blaise carefully as the tan boy rotated his shoulders in the same way he did when he was fighting against his wings.

Draco took half a step forward towards Blaise, giving the tan boy a small smile. However, he was stopped by strong arms wrapping around him and pulling him back against a solid chest. This one movement set off a chain of effects that shocked even Draco.

Blaise lost his fight with his wings, the large appendages springing free from his back in a way that must have been painful for the tan boy, though he didn't show it as he glared at Darius. Larger wings unfolded gracefully from Darius' back, proving that he had much more experience with them than Blaise did. Draco lifted his head slightly to look at Darius, before turning his attention towards Blaise, who had started hissing softly. It took a moment for Draco to realise what was going on, because he had only seen something like this once before. Both Blaise and Darius were seeing each other as a threat.

"Darius, Blaise isn't going to hurt me." Draco turned as best he could in the strong embrace so that he could look at the older man, amber eyes slowly looking from Blaise to him, though Draco knew that if Blaise moved at all Darius would see it and react accordingly. "Blaise is one of my friends; he's not going to hurt me," Draco said again, making sure that the older man understood before looking over at Blaise, who was still tense. Draco eased himself away from Darius, who reluctantly let him go. Draco only took two steps towards Blaise, remaining closer to Darius hoping that it would make the man less tense.

"Blaise," Draco said softly.

"You didn't tell me you were a submissive," Blaise said, looking at Draco, who lowered his head.

"I didn't want you to know." Draco kept his head lowered. Blaise frowned; this wasn't like the Draco he knew, his Draco would have proudly stated that Blaise hadn't been worthy of such information, or something like that. This near frightened, timid Draco was such a contrast to how he had been before, all Blaise could think was that something serious must have happened in the three months that his blond friend was gone. "Besides," Draco continued, "if you knew, it would have just made things a lot more complicated."

"How so?" Blaise questioned frowning at Draco.

"You were already trying to form a bond with me, I didn't want to be anything other than friends. And from what little I was ever able to find out about our kind in books... I was afraid that you would try and force me to be your mate..." Draco said trying not to make a face.

"I've read the same books you have Draco, that wouldn't have happened unless..."

"Unless I had sent out a distress call." Draco gave Blaise a pointed look and the tan boy suddenly understood all too well what had happened.

"That Ravenclaw..." Blaise sighed shaking his head. "I couldn't figure out why I had lost control like that, I knew you had been in trouble, though I still hadn't put it together that you were a submissive. I suppose if you had stayed around after that I would have figured it out easily enough."

Draco nodded. "You would have, I would have seen you as a protector, someone who would be able to keep me safe. The bond we had was already messed up and you would have tried to be my mate. I didn't want that to happen, I didn't want a mate. I didn't want to be... this," Draco gestured to himself, and Blaise couldn't help but look the blond boy over; he truly didn't see anything wrong with him but he understood where his friend was coming from.

"And so you just left?" Blaise asked. As much as he understood that Draco had wanted to keep them from becoming mates, he wasn't any clearer on why Draco had basically vanished for three months.

"I told my parents about what happened, when I went home for Christmas," Draco explained, well aware of the fact that both Snape and Darius were listening. "They contacted a friend of theirs, who claimed he knew a way to stop all this. Though that didn't really turn out the way I had planned," Draco added with a bitter laugh.

Darius moved forwards then, wrapping his arms around Draco again. The blond boy allowed it resting back against the strong chest.

Blaise raised an eyebrow at Draco. "Then why are you mated to him," Blaise asked as he nodded his head at Darius, "if this person was supposed to 'make it all stop'?"

Draco shook his head. "First I'm not fully mated to him. The rest is a really long story, but let's just say that there is no way to take away an inheritance once you've gotten it." He sighed, finally looking fully at Blaise again. "I'd rather not talk about it right now. There are other things we need to talk about," Draco said with a small smile. Blaise gave him a curious look. "I've missed three months of school, I'm a little behind."

Blaise rolled his eyes but smirked at Draco's sudden change of topic, he didn't question it and nodded. "I've kept notes for you; I'll give them to you tomorrow."

Draco looked extremely happy about this, which in turn made Blaise happy. Draco had always been a good friend; the thought that he had been subconsciously trying to bond to Draco was actually a little frightening to Blaise. He would definitely have to ask Darius about that. Blaise turned his attention toward the man that had come in with Draco. "Sorry about over reacting," Blaise said, even as he pulled his wings in close to his back, though they didn't slide back in just yet.

Darius shook his head. "I should have expected you to react in such a way, you obviously feel very protective of Draco. And with Draco being on edge all day it had me on guard, which is what your instincts reacted to," Darius explained. Letting Draco go, he stepped around the blond boy, moving towards Blaise. The tan boy noticed that Darius was careful with how he moved, showing that he wasn't a threat. This eased the rest of the tension from Blaise and his wings finally folded into his back once again, vanishing from sight.

Darius flashed him a smile and held his hand out. "Shall we try this again? I am Darius Stanberg, you can just call me Darius though. Being called Mr. Stanberg makes me feel old."

"You are old," Draco pointed out, smirking.

"Thirty two is not old," Darius shot back, his hand still held out to Blaise; the tan boy studied him for a moment before finally taking the offered hand.

"Blaise Zabini," he said.

After that the hostility between Blaise and Darius seemed to vanish as if it was never there to begin with. The house elves brought dinner for the four of them. Blaise caught Draco up on all the gossip that had been happening over the last three months that the blond boy had been gone. Snape and Darius, in the meantime, discussed how managing the classes was going to work, while working in how Darius was going to set time aside to give Blaise some one-on-one lessons, so as to teach him how to better control himself.

"I think it's really going to help having another Fallen around to help," Blaise said.

"Don't call us that," Draco snapped, catching Blaise by surprise. Darius put a hand on Draco's shoulder to calm him, and then turned his attention back to Blaise.

"You are not a Fallen, we are called Celraith. The term 'Fallen' was adapted to our kind because of the fact that our wings are mostly black; the theory is that we once descended from fallen angels. As that was a very, very long time ago, if we were ever descended from angels at all, the blood has long since been diluted and so that is a difficult theory to prove or disprove," Darius explained and Blaise nodded his understanding.

"Celraith, well it sounds better then 'Fallen' anyway," Blaise said with a grin.

-x.

Harry felt so much better. He still didn't know what had caused his tiredness but given the fact that he was able to get out of bed in the morning and have the energy to not only get dressed but make it down in time for breakfast, he found he didn't care what the cause had been. So long as it didn't happen again.

He had been going back to see Pomfrey every day for two weeks so that she was able to keep an eye on his magical core and, though it was still weak, it was getting stronger thanks to the potions that he had been taking. His understanding was that the potions put a protective barrier around his magical core stopping any magic from being drained until his core was fully healed. It was far too complicated and Harry hadn't fully understood everything that he had been told, but that was the gist of it.

That morning Harry felt better than he had all week. It was the first time being awake before Ron in months. Harry got ready for the day before waking Ron up and informing the red-head that he was going down ahead of him. Ron made a noise and waved his hand before burying his face back into his pillow. Harry laughed, shaking his head at his best friend before he left to go get something to eat.

Normally Harry would have waited for Ron, however, he felt so hungry today that he didn't think he would be able to wait while Ron slowly went through his morning routine. It was a little unfair, since Ron had waited around for him when Harry had been too tired to really stand on his own but Harry was sure that his friend would just be pleased he was eating normally again.

Harry hurried down the stairs, taking two at a time in some places, until he reached the Entrance Hall. Jumping down the last five steps, Harry landed on his feet though didn't stay there long as he lost his balance and fell over.

"Graceful, Potter." Harry's head snapped in the direction of that all too familiar drawl, to see Draco Malfoy standing to the side of the staircase. Harry blinked, and then blinked again.

"Malfoy? Why are you here?" Harry asked, clearly surprised to see the blond boy.

"Last I checked, I've been going to school here as long as you have," Draco said, taking a step towards Harry, who was apparently too surprised by seeing the blond boy back in school to actually get up.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I know that, but you haven't been here since right before Christmas." Harry frowned, looking up at Draco when the other boy held a hand out to him. Giving it a distrustful look, Harry pulled himself off the floor; he and Draco had mostly ignored each other this school year but it still felt too weird to accept help from his long time school rival. "Everyone was talking about where you had vanished to. I could give you the list of rumors but some of them are so stupid I don't even want to repeat them," Harry said and was surprised to hear Draco laugh at that.

Draco couldn't stop from smiling at the slightly smaller boy. "I've heard a fair few of them already, and I've only been back in school since last night."

"I almost can't wait to hear what rumors are going to spring up now." Harry grinned at the thought.

Draco laughed again. "I could start a few of my own, though I think it's more fun to see what other people come up with," he said and smiled again when Harry laughed at that. The smile faded quickly though as Draco looked at the other boy. It was strange, standing there talking and even laughing with someone who he was sure he hated at one point, though Draco couldn't really pinpoint the exact moment he had decided that he hated Harry, just like he couldn't pinpoint the moment when he had stopped hating him. Though Draco was sure he had stopped hating him some time soon after the other boy had killed Voldemort.

Harry tilted his head curiously at Draco when he noticed the other boy frowning at him. "What?"

Draco shook his head; of course Potter was to slow to realise the oddity of the situation. "Are we actually having something that could be classified as a 'normal' conversation?" Draco asked, sounding a bit confused. Where were the insults, the shouting, trying to throw spells, punches at each other, or just ignoring the others existence as they had over the past year?

A frown slowly formed on Harry's face now as well. The thought of arguing with Draco hadn't even crossed his mind. He had been surprised to see the other boy but, instead of the normal dislike he felt towards Draco, or the indifference he had towards the other boy,, Harry could only say he felt relieved to know that none of the rumors had been true. "I think we are," Harry finally replied and could only shrug it off. "Is that a problem?"

Draco had to actually think about that question before answering. Did he have a problem talking to Harry? After the crazy happenings at the beginning of December, and then what had happened the months following Christmas, he came to the conclusion that he did like talking to the other boy. There was something almost calming about being around him. "No, not a problem at all. Just maybe a bit..."

"Weird?" Harry offered and Draco nodded. "Yeah, it is a bit I guess," Harry said with a shrug, clearly not all that bothered by it. "Though, if you want more rumors started about you, all we have to do is stand here talking a bit longer. I'm sure a few people have already seen us."

Draco smirked at that, glancing over at a younger student that was walking into the Great Hall, but their head kept turning around to look at the two of them standing by the stairs. "I would think that you have had enough rumors spread about you to last a life time," Draco pointed out and Harry just shrugged again.

"That's true, but what else can they make up about me? The must have run out of ideas by now." Harry grinned.

"I could think of a few." Draco's mood seemed to darken. "The Savior talking to the son of a Death Eater; use your imagination and see where they could possibly take that," Draco said, and before Harry could respond in anyway the blond had turned and walked up the stairs that Harry had jumped down before.

Harry stared after Draco, really confused by the friendly conversation they had just had, and then the abrupt mood swing on Draco's part. For what was really a fairly normal year at Hogwarts, it was definitely turning out to be one of the strangest ones Harry had had so far.

TBC

And here is Chapter one! I hope you all enjoyed it, I do have chapter two mostly done, but it will be a little while before that is posted as I want to go through and add some more stuff and fix it up as I have been sitting on this story for MONTHS and have worked out a few more things.  
For those of you reading Unwanted Bonds, the last chapter to that is finished, and I hope to have that up soon as well!  
For anyone reading Contract Under Love, I am sorry for the long wait in an update. I hope to get back to that one in the new year, and I also hope to be able to post some of my other works as well!


	2. Chapter 2

Never Fall to Far

Chapter Two

Harry and Draco had been correct; with Draco suddenly back in school even more rumors had started springing up left and right about where the blond boy had been, and about why he had suddenly returned to school with no warning. It didn't take long for people to realise that Draco must have returned with the new teacher, Darius Stanberg; this of course started a whole new set of rumours about the relationship Draco must have with the teacher. It was also rumoured, that Draco was in fact sharing a room with Mr. Stanberg, a rumour that was supported by the fact that the blond had not returned to the Slytherin dormitory. Though no one other than the other Slytherins could confirm this and they were staying very tight lipped about it.

Harry was still curious about where Draco had been since Christmas but he knew better than to believe any of the rumors that were going around, most of them far too ridiculous to even be close to the truth.

It had been a week already since Draco had returned to the school and Harry had seen the blond boy nearly every day in the Hospital Wing when he went up there to get the potion for his magical core. It hadn't taken long for Harry to figure out that Draco was in there helping Madam Pomfrey, but the blond boy always seemed too busy to talk, and Harry was only ever in there long enough to get the potion that Pomfrey and Snape insisted he keep taking, before he was shooed out again with instructions not to forget to come get the potion again the following day.

It was a nasty potion, and Harry hated taking it, but he couldn't deny that it was in fact helping. His magical core was getting stronger and it was the first time since summer that he actually had the energy to stay awake the whole day. Though there was, of course, still the worry that he would have a relapse as soon as he stopped taking the potion, because they still couldn't find what it was that had been draining his magic to begin with.

However, today was Saturday, and it was a Hogsmeade weekend, the first one that Harry was awake enough for to actually go down to the village with Ron and Hermione. Harry could hardly contain his excitement; he hadn't been down to the village once this school year and he had made plans with Ron and Hermione. He just had to go and grab his potion before he went, and probably listen to a short lecture from Pomfrey about not over exerting himself.

Harry hurried into the Great Hall, spotting his two friends immediately and heading over to them, taking his seat next to Ron.

"Morning," Harry greeted, grabbing a plate for himself and started dishing up a small portion. Ron mumbled a greeting back to him; Hermione, however, was giving him a concerned look. "What?" Harry asked.

"Are you sure you should be going out today, Harry?" Hermione asked. "I mean, I know you're obviously feeling better but... we still don't know what happened with your magic, and if you push yourself to much..." Hermione said, and Harry could tell that she was holding back from telling him that he just shouldn't go to Hogsmeade.

Harry gave Hermione the best reassuring smile he could manage. He knew that she meant well, and after him collapsing three weeks ago he knew that Hermione wouldn't be able to stop from fussing over him now. "Madam Pomfrey says that I'm alright," he assured her. "The potions she is giving me really helped. My magical core is stable now, so there's no reason for me to miss another trip to Hogsmeade," Harry said. He almost regretted telling her about his magical core being damaged, however, Hermione was one of his best friends, and as frustrating as it was to have her worrying about him all the time, he never would have kept something this big from her.

Hermione sighed looking across the table to Ron, who was seated next to Harry, but the red-head didn't seem to be paying any attention as he piled his plate as high as he could with food. Shaking her head, obviously realising she wasn't going to be getting any back up from him, she turned her attention back to Harry. "I'm just worried, Harry," Hermione explained. "But I've been thinking, and what if it was some kind of dark curse that affected your magical core?" she asked.

"Pomfrey and Snape both scanned me for dark curses, and dark magic, and gave me a potion for it anyway just in case. That much has been ruled out at least," Harry informed her.

Hermione nodded and continued on anyway. "Yes, I know, but what if it was some other form of dark magic? What if... when Voldemort possessed you, what if he did something? Left something behind that affected your magical core?" Hermione watched as Harry froze, his face paling slightly.

Harry hadn't mentioned to either of Ron or Hermione what he had felt when he had first woken up, the feeling of not being able to move or even speak, the eerie sick feeling of someone else being in control of his body. It had felt so similar to being possessed, the thought of Voldemort having done something to him before the monster had burned, it frightened him. He tried telling himself that Pomfrey and Snape would have found it if Voldemort had in fact left something behind, but the icy feeling still settled in his stomach and he no longer felt all that hungry.

"Really, 'mione," Ron said, rolling his eyes, "he was just getting back to normal." Ron looked at Harry, reaching over to put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You're okay, right, mate?"

Harry nodded and started picking at his food as he thought over what Hermione had just said. He felt really tense as he shifted restlessly in his seat. Harry rotated his shoulders to get rid of the sudden tension that was there.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione said, looking at Harry, obviously worried that she had upset him.

"It's alright," he tried to reassure her, but he felt like his smile was too forced. He managed a few bites of his food, which stopped Hermione from looking quite so worried as she shot him glances throughout breakfast. Ron made a few attempts at starting a conversation with Harry, only to give up when he didn't really respond.

Harry sighed and pushed his plate away unable to make himself eat any more, rotating his shoulders once more, wincing at how stiff they felt. Deciding to give up on breakfast and get his visit to the Medical Wing out of the way, Harry stood up and stretched as best he could.

"Harry?" Hermione looked like she was going to stand up as well but Harry shook his head.

"I'm fine, I've got to go get my potion from Madam Pomfrey," Harry told her, and gave her a quick smile. "I'll catch up to you two later?"

Ron nodded. "We won't leave without you," the red-head promised, watching as Harry turned and hurried out of the Great Hall. He knew it probably would have made more sense if Ron and Hermione had just come with him to the Hospital Wing, then they could just leave and go right to Hogsmeade straight from there, however Hermione had got Harry thinking again. He wanted to talk with Pomfrey today, and see how possible it might be that Voldemort could have been the cause of the damage done to his core.

Harry quickened his pace, making it to the Hospital Wing in short time. He paused just inside the doorway when he saw that Madam Pomfrey was busy tending to someone else at the moment. Pomfrey glanced over, having heard the door to the Hospital Wing open, and nodded once when she saw Harry.

"If you just wait over there, Mr. Potter, I will get your potion in a moment," she said and turned her attention back to the younger student she had been attending to. Harry looked at the other student, who looked to be either a first or second year; they looked rather banged up, covered in bruises, and an obvious broken arm. Letting out a small sigh and resigning himself to a little bit of a wait, Harry walked over to the bed that he usually slept on when in the hospital wing and took a seat.

Laying back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling, Harry let his mind start to wander. Snape and Pomfrey had both been doing all they could to try and find out what was wrong with his magical core. However, three weeks into taking the potion and there had been no signs of a relapse. Harry had more energy, and his core getting stronger again, the only thing any of them could conclude was that whatever it was, curse or just fatigue, it seemed to have stopped. He was only taking the potion now as a safety measure until his magical core was full again.

"Here again, Potter?" That familiar voice broke into Harry's thoughts, shifting up so he was leaning on his elbows he looked up to see Draco standing in front of him. "You're not dying are you?" If Harry didn't know better, he would have said that Draco almost looked concerned.

"Not that I know of, but this is me after all; give me a week or so and I'm sure I will be back in here with a life threatening injury," Harry said sitting up a bit straighter. Draco frowned at him and shook his head when Harry grinned at him.

"I'm starting to think that this has just become a very strange hobby for you," Draco said and he raised an eyebrow at the boy sitting on the bed.

"Even you have to admit that the school year isn't complete until I've spent a week in the hospital." Harry grinned wider when Draco chuckled.

"You are hopeless, Potter," Draco said with a small shake of his head. "So why are you here again?" Draco asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I'm here to get a potion so I don't have a relapse or something," Harry said, laughing when Draco gave him an annoyed look. "I've been really tired since last summer. It was getting worse and I actually collapsed about three weeks ago. Snape and Pomfrey have me on a potion so I won't pass out," Harry explained, unsure why he was telling Draco this much of his 'condition' but still leaving out what the actual problem was. Harry let out a small sigh running a hand through his hair.

"And they don't know why you were so tired?" Draco frowned, sounding confused about Harry's explanation.

"They know why I was so tired, but they can't find the cause of it." Harry stared up at Draco, frowning when it dawned on him that this was the second longest conversation they had ever had, if you didn't count all the times they had fought over the years; Harry was finding that he actually liked it. And once again Harry found himself wondering what exactly had happened to Draco to cause such a change that the blond teen was turning into someone Harry liked talking to.

"What was making you tired?" Draco questioned, trying to figure out if there was a reason Harry was leaving out information.

Harry bit his lip; sure, he and Draco seemed to be getting along at the moment but there was still a possibility that the blond teen would tell others, and Harry really didn't want the news about his magical core being damaged all around school.

Draco sighed when Harry still didn't say anything; he could only assume what the black-haired boy was worried about. They had never been anything close to friends, and this year they had managed to tolerate each other's existence better than they had in the past, but there was still no reason for Harry to tell him anything. "I promise I'm not going to tell anyone," Draco assured Harry, the other teen giving him a skeptical look. "Look at it this way," Draco continued when it seemed like Harry still wasn't going to say anything, "I'm in here helping Madam Pomfrey, I'm studying to be a healer, so in a round-about way you are my patient right now."

"So you think you'll be able to find something that Snape and Pomfrey couldn't?" Harry asked raising an eyebrow at Draco, trying to figure out if there was some hidden reason why Draco wanted to know about Harry's condition.

The blond teen shook his head, letting out a frustrated sigh. "You know what, fine, don't tell me." Draco turned to go see if there was something else that had to be done. However, Harry's hand shot out and grabbed onto his robe before he could even take a full step. Turning back to look at Harry, Draco frowned when he saw wide green eyes looking at him.

"Look, I'm sorry. It was my magical core, okay," Harry said softly, his hand still gripping Draco's black robe, Harry was unsure about what had made him stop the other teen from walking away but he had gotten a sudden feeling that if Draco left him alone now, something bad was going to happen.

"What?" Draco asked, his own eyes widening at what Harry had just told him.

Harry slowly let go of Draco's robe when he was sure the blond teen wasn't going to walk away. Running a hand through his hair, Harry let out a long sigh. "My magical core, there was something wrong and it was making me really tired because all my energy was being sucked up by something," Harry explained. "But I'm taking a potion now until they can find out what the cause was." Harry looked back up at Draco, who was staring at him, still looking a bit shocked but also very thoughtful.

"But they haven't found the cause of it yet?" Draco asked and Harry shook his head. Draco nodded once before glancing over at where Pomfrey was still tending to the younger student. Seeming satisfied that she was still busy, Draco turned his attention back toward Harry. "Would you...? May I try something?" he asked, keeping his voice low, just in case Pomfrey heard him.

"Pomfrey and Snape have tried everything they could think of. No offense, really, but what can you try that they haven't?" Harry asked and watched as Draco glanced over at Pomfrey, seeming almost nervous that the school nurse was going to hear him and put a stop to what he wanted to try.

"It's kind of hard to explain but, to sum it up, it's an advanced magical scan. Only a certain few people know how to do it but in theory it will get a better reading on your core than any spell Madam Pomfrey or Professor Snape have tried so far," Draco explained quickly. Harry watched as Draco looked at Pomfrey for a third time, and got the feeling that this was something that the blond wasn't really allowed to be doing. Or maybe it was something that Pomfrey didn't know Draco could do.

"I don't know..." Harry frowned. "How do I know that I can trust you?" Harry asked. Draco hadn't done anything to him this year but they did still have a history. And even though there was something telling Harry that he could in fact trust the blond, he knew it was best to venture on the side of caution.

Draco's head snapped back to look at Harry, frowning; it was a fair question but Draco didn't really have an answer for it. "How can I prove that you can trust me?" Draco shot back. "I really do only want to help, Potter. If your magical core is damaged, that is something very serious. The fact that the problem hasn't been found after three weeks-"

"Actually it's been since summer," Harry informed him. "I started feeling tired when I was staying with Ron during the summer. It only started getting really bad when I got to school."

"Months? How are you even alive?" Draco's eyes widened again. Harry was sure that he had never seen the blond so expressive before. It fueled the curiosity that Harry already had about Draco, and he wanted even more to know what had happened to change the other teen so much in just three months.

"Alright, I'll let you do the scan," Harry agreed. Draco blinked at him in surprise, obviously having thought that it would take a lot more talking on his part to convince Harry.

Harry looked over to where Pomfrey was when he heard footsteps, she was apparently done patching up the battered student. No bruises, or broken arm in sight, Harry watched the younger year hurry out of the Hospital Wing, while Pomfrey turned and went to her office where Harry knew she had been keeping the potion he was supposed to take. "Might want to hurry though, if you're not allowed to do this, Pomfrey will be over here soon I think." Harry grinned up at Draco, who nodded.

"Just don't move," Draco said, his expression turning serious. Harry watched him curiously when the blond didn't pull out his wand to do the scan like Harry had been expecting him to, Draco moved forward and placed his hands on Harry's chest closing his eyes, his brow furrowed together in concentration.

Draco took a deep breath to calm himself down; he had only done this a handful of times and he still wasn't used to using his magic this way. However, this kind of scan wasn't that difficult, and if he concentrated then Draco knew he would be able to do it.

Harry wasn't quite sure what Draco was doing, he had seen wandless magic before, he himself had performed it on a number of occasions, but this was different. Draco's hands felt warm and he could feel it slowly spreading slowly through his whole body, feeling out his magic and following it to its source. Harry had to admit that the feeling was very relaxing, and the tension that had been in his shoulders since earlier that morning seemed to just melt away.

Harry's relaxed state only lasted for a few more moments however, as the warmth of Draco's magic reached very part of his body, Harry shifted slightly when he felt an odd sensation of something moving just under the skin on his back.

"Malfoy..." Harry didn't want to break the other boy's concentration and risk something going wrong, but he wasn't sure if he should feel things moving around on his back the way he was. But Draco seemed to be too focused on what he was doing, and hadn't heard Harry at all.

Draco continued following Harry's magic, mapping it out through the other boy's body trying to find if there was anything abnormal. The magic was more wild than any other magic Draco had felt so far, and the blond teen wondered if that was just the way Harry's magic was, or if the magic was acting in such a way out of distress. Reaching out more with his own magic, Draco pushed deeper until he found Harry's magical core and gently started feeling that out as well; if it was damaged the last thing he wanted to do was cause even more problems.

Starting the scan on Harry's magical core, it was there that Draco found something strange; the core itself didn't seem to be damaged at all. It seemed, however, to be behind a barrier of some sort. The barrier appeared to be the reason behind why Harry's magic was so unstable, as it was constantly attacking it.

Draco didn't have to be a fully licensed healer to know having a barrier around the magical core was dangerous, and definitely not normal. Not knowing if it would work or not, but knowing he couldn't leave Harry like this, Draco started wrapping his own magic around Harry's core, feeding it in through the cracks that were already in the barrier. Everything seemed to be going perfectly fine until the barrier unexpectedly shattered, and Draco felt quite a bit of his own magic being pulled out of him.

Harry suddenly screamed and doubled over as his back exploded in pain. The connection Draco had created was broken so abruptly that it left Draco winded as he stumbled back, shaking his head in a slight daze at having his magic drained so quickly. Another scream from Harry and the blond turned his attention toward the other teen, half afraid that he had done something wrong and truly hurt Harry. That fear vanished and was replaced with shock when two large black wings burst from Harry's back in a spray of blood.

Draco knew then what was happening; the memory of his own first transformation came to mind as he watched Harry struggling to stay sitting up, green eyes closed tightly as Harry clenched his teeth in an attempt to not scream again. Draco remembered how painful his own transformation had been for him. Stepping forward, the blond brought his own wings out, moving to help Harry through the sudden and painful change he was going through, even though Draco wasn't fully sure what he could actually do, since it looked like Harry may have passed out.

Pomfrey had come running out of her office quickly upon hearing Harry scream, but she stopped short when she saw Draco, large black wings out and tucked neatly against his back, standing next to Harry's bed rolling the other boy over onto his stomach revealing a similar set of black wings coming from Harry's back. Draco didn't seem to take any notice of her as he set to work straightening out Harry's wings. Her sudden shock wore off quickly and she hurriedly made her way over to Harry's bed. Noticing that Harry appeared to be unconscious at the moment, she turned her full attention to Draco, who still hadn't even acknowledged her presence.

"Mr. Malfoy, I would like an explanation as to what happened here," Pomfrey said and heard Draco sigh, only sparing her a brief glance before he went back to gently stretching out one of the bloodied appendages coming from Harry's back.

"I need Darius," Draco said gently running his fingers over the wing, looking for any damaged. "Potter is a Celraith, I did a scan on Potter's magical core and it somehow triggered his transformation," Draco said, frowning as he looked at Harry. "He should have come into his inheritance before now though," Draco explained as best he could to the school nurse, without fully stating that he had no clue what he was doing, had no idea if he had somehow done irreversible harm to Harry. He paused as he finished up with Harry's first wing, looking at Pomfrey expectantly.

The school nurse sighed and nodded; she didn't like the idea of leaving one of her patients like this, least of all Harry, who she had grown very fond of over all the times that the boy landed himself in her care, but she had no experience dealing with a creature inheritance such as this. Very few Celraith ever passed through Hogwarts, and the few that ever had were pulled from school for the time of their transformation. "I will go call Mr. Stanberg up here," she said and returned to her office quickly to call the older Celraith.

Draco relaxed a little, knowing that Darius would be up here soon to help. So, while he waited, Draco put all his focus on stretching Harry's wings out carefully so that they could be cleaned properly, and as Harry had landed on his back after the transformation, Draco wanted to make sure that the other boy hadn't damaged the new additions to his body.

"What inheritance...?" Harry asked causing Draco to jump slightly; he had assumed that Harry had lost consciousness since the other boy hadn't opened his eyes at all, and hadn't spoken until now.

"How are you feeling?" Draco asked, returning to his task of making sure Harry's wings were stretched out properly; if Harry was awake it was probably a good thing, it meant that the inheritance hadn't taken too much of Harry's magic. And considering that Harry had already confessed to having been feeling tired since last summer, Draco counted that as a good thing.

"Like a hippogriff just trampled over my back..." Harry replied trying to turn his head so he could see where Draco was, giving up when that turned out to be a little too much effort. "What inheritance?" Harry asked again, resting his head back down on the bed.

Draco was surprised by the question; he knew that Harry had grown up with muggles, but surely if the other boy was a Celraith, then someone else must have known about the creature inheritance. "You didn't know?" the blond asked.

"Did I know that I was going to sprout wings halfway through the school year? No, that's not really something someone expects to happen." Harry sounded annoyed, but also very tired.

"You should have come into your inheritance on your sixteenth birthday, the fact that you've only just changed isn't normal for our kind," Draco explained and Harry couldn't help but chuckle.

"There really isn't anything 'normal' about this situation anyway, and even if there was, you can always leave it to me to find the most 'not normal' way of going about things," Harry said with a small sigh.

"I don't know why this is the first time you've actually changed. Pomfrey went to get Darius, he might have more answers than I do," Draco said, looking in the direction that Pomfrey had gone, hoping she came back soon with the older man.

"...Darius?" Harry tried to sit up so that he could turn to look at Draco. "The new assistant teacher?"

"Don't move, Potter," Draco ordered, putting a hand on Harry's back, just between his wing joints and pressing down lightly so he wouldn't hurt the other boy, but just enough to keep Harry lying down. "Your wings and back are going to be sensitive for a couple days, if you try to move now you could really hurt yourself. Trust me, if you pull something you won't be getting up for a week at the very least," Draco explained, sounding like he was talking from experience. Harry huffed in annoyance but didn't try to get back up again, his back hurt enough as it was without him doing any more damage to it.

"Then come around here so I can see you," Harry said turning his head again and Draco smiled a little when he saw that Harry was pouting. But Draco decided to humor the other boy, moving around the bed again so that he could stand where Harry could see him, only to find that Harry had closed his eyes again.

"You can't see me if you don't open your eyes," Draco pointed out, pulling a chair up to sit next to the bed.

Harry cracked open an eye and looked at Draco, frowning deeply before he opened his other eye and lifted his head slightly, blinking slowly as he tried to register what he was seeing. "You have wings too," Harry finally said, watching in amusement as one of Draco's wings twitched when the blond boy chuckled.

"Very observant, Potter; yes, I have wings too. I came into my own inheritance last June," Draco explained and Harry frowned more.

"What inheritance? You keep talking about it, but haven't told me what it is yet," Harry said in annoyance. "I'm guessing that it has something to do with why I have wings now," Harry said. Draco nodded his head once in confirmation.

"You are a Celraith, most people might refer to you as a Fallen, but it's the same thing. And like I said, you should have gotten your wings on or around your sixteenth birthday," Draco frowned in thought after that, if was true that Harry had no idea about his inheritance, that would make him the third unknown Celraith that had been found at Hogwarts.

This made for a rather strange situation. From what Draco had been told during his time in the city, it wasn't a normal occurrence for a Celraith to go unnoticed by the counsel. They had boasted about the fact that they kept track of all families that had even one Celraith ancestor, no matter how far back it was. The elders had been surprised to discover Draco's existence, and outraged of then finding out that there was a second unknown still attending Hogwarts. They had been making plans to bring Blaise to the city as well, but Darius had accepted the job at Hogwarts before any solid plan could be made. However, with Harry now a confirmed Celraith as well, Draco couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen now; he still didn't know much about how the Counsel operated but he was fairly sure they weren't just going to sit back and let things continue on like this.

Harry shifted slightly on the bed, trying to get comfortable with the extra weight he could feel on his sore back. The movement brought Draco out of his thoughts and back to the current problem. Looking at the other boy, who stared back up at him. "So I'm a Cel-something or other," Harry said, "I have wings now... Is this inheritance thing why I've been so tired lately?"

Draco took a moment before he answered Harry. "I'm not a fully trained healer, but I know that you being tired was most likely connected to your magical core, and the fact that it was so depleted. You said it was damaged?" Draco questioned.

Harry nodded. "Damaged, or drained, or something. From when I fought Voldemort I think," Harry explained, yawning and resting his head on the pillow again, not noticing Draco flinch at the mention of the Dark Wizard's name.

"When I did the scan, there was something containing your magical core. It didn't seem damaged at all to me, but maybe the containment was stopping your magic from assisting with your inheritance?" Draco suggested.

"So, my magic was trapped...?" Harry asked, his eyes closing for a moment. "That might have been the potion Snape and Pomfrey have been giving me, it was supposed to stop my magic from draining away," Harry said, holding back another yawn.

Draco sighed leaning back in his chair. "I don't really know. I asked Pomfrey to get Darius, he'll have more answers then I do," Draco explained and Harry huffed, closing his eyes again.

"Better get here soon...'m getting tired." Harry yawned sagging slightly on the bed. "Maybe I'll wake up and this will be a weird dream..." Harry said, though he wasn't sure he wanted this to be a dream or not, if all this was happening because of a magical inheritance of some kind, then it meant that Voldemort couldn't have been the cause of it all, and Harry found that he was more okay with being part magical creature, with wings and whatever else came along with it, if it meant that his fight with Voldemort really was over.

Draco snorted in amusement. "That would be nice, but this isn't a dream," Draco informed him and Harry sighed.

"That's what a dream would say, but okay if 'ts not a dream." Harry really did seem to be out of it, the tiredness seeming to finally be catching up to the other boy after the transformation, and Draco wondered how much of this whole conversation Harry would actually remember when he woke up. Draco remembered very little from his own transformation, other than the pain, and waking up covered in blood, with his wings resting heavy on his back. Draco had been lucky that no one had discovered what he was, even now he wasn't sure how he had made it through the last of his exams from last year.

Even after returning home for the summer, Draco hadn't been acting normally, though he figured his parents had let it slide since the Dark Lord had just fallen, and they all had a lot on their minds. And then Draco had to be foolish and reveal what he was to his parents during Christmas.

Shaking his head to rid his mind of where those thoughts would lead him, Draco turned his attention back to Harry, who seemed to have fallen asleep now. It was at that moment that Pomfrey came out of her office, followed closely by Darius, having used the floo in order to get there quicker.

"Draco? What happened?" Darius asked, heading straight for the young blond, but stopped short when he saw that there was another Celraith sleeping on the bed that Draco was sat next to. "Who is this?" he questioned, studying the small boy, trying to decide if the boy was asleep or unconscious.

"It's Harry Potter. I don't know what happened," Draco said before explaining everything that he had done, from convincing Harry to let him do the scan in the first place, to what he had felt about the other boy's magical core, and then the full transformation that Harry had suddenly gone through. "It was just a scan... it shouldn't have done that..." Draco said, though didn't sound too sure of himself now. Darius started to move toward Draco when Pomfrey spoke up.

"You should have known better then to use such strong magic on someone whose magical core was damaged," Pomfrey scolded and Draco ducked his head his hands clenching into fists in an attempt not lash back at the school nurse, because as of right now Pomfrey was the only one who could teach Draco any kind of healing magic, he didn't want to make her upset and risk losing the only teacher he had at the moment.

Darius shot a glare towards Pomfrey. "This is something that would have happened with, or without Draco. It is certainly better for the boy that Draco did use his own magic and trigger the transformation," Darius said moving himself between Pomfrey and Draco.

"I wasn't trying to hurt him," Draco insisted, not looking at either Pomfrey or Darius at the moment, his eyes instead settling on Harry.

Sending one more glare towards Pomfrey, Darius turned and went over to Draco, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy. "I can handle things from here, you may leave now, thank you," he said holding Draco close when the blond boy settled into his arms, though Darius never took his eyes away from Pomfrey, clearly unhappy with her.

Pomfrey narrowed her eyes at being told what to do in her own Hospital Wing; she didn't leave right away, first wanting to make sure that Harry really was alright. Aware of Darius watching her every move, she cast a few basic diagnostic spells, until she was satisfied that there really wasn't anything wrong with the sleeping boy. "I must inform the Headmaster about this," she said looking at Darius and Draco for a moment before she returned to her office.

Darius waited until Pomfrey was gone before speaking to Draco. "You didn't do anything wrong," he reassured. "I've heard of an inheritance being delayed before. It could have been a lot worse for him if you hadn't been here," Darius said and was rewarded with a small smile from the blond boy wrapped in his arms. Smiling back, Darius let his arms slide away from around Draco, before turning his attention to the sleeping boy on the bed.

Draco looked over at Harry too. "He didn't know anything about his inheritance," he said and Darius frowned clearly not happy about that information.

"That is worrisome. This is the third one of our kind that has been unknown to us," Darius reached out to run his fingers gently down one of Harry's wings watching it twitch slightly before settling down. "I'm going to have to contact the elders and inform them."

"They're not going to be happy," Draco said. He had only met the elders a handful of times, and knew already that they liked to keep things in order. The appearance of one unknown Celraith had been enough to shake things up; the knowledge that there had been a second one had upset quite a lot of them. He was sure that the appearance of a third would have the entire city in an uproar.

"No, they won't be happy, and if it were left up to me I wouldn't tell them a damn thing. But we can't ignore this," Darius ran his fingers soothingly through Draco's hair, they both looked at Harry when one of the boy's wings twitched in his sleep causing Harry to hiss in pain. Draco moved forward gently rubbing Harry's back between the wings, his hand warm and tingling with his magic as he used that to help relax the muscles.

Darius smiled as he watched Draco for a moment. "For now, I think it would be best if he joined in on lessons with you and Blaise," Darius said. Draco turned to give the older man a curious look. "It's all I can do until I have had a chance to contact the elders and gotten their reply," Darius explained.

"Is that a good idea? It's fine for me and Blaise but..." Draco tailed off for a moment and looked closely at Harry. "I mean...I might be wrong but...he is a submissive isn't he?" Draco asked looking back up at Darius, who smiled at him.

"That is only something you can tell. Do you think he is?" Darius asked, watching as Draco looked back at Harry once again before nodding slowly, still seeming a little unsure of himself.

"I think he is; he feels different then you or Blaise... but I'm not really sure if that means he's a submissive or not. I never really got the chance to compare while I was at the city, the only other person I know there that is a submissive is Anton... and somehow I don't think he really counts," Draco said with a fond smile as he remembered the young man that had been helping him learn healing magic.

Darius laughed at that. "I don't think anyone counts Anton; he and Rasvan are not the typical mateship." Darius smiled. Pulling Draco back into a quick hug, he leaned down to kiss the top of Draco's head before he pulled away and turned his full attention to the still sleeping Celraith on the bed.

"If you think he is a submissive, then we'll go with that for now. Regardless of what he is though, he will need the same lessons that you and Blaise are taking," Darius said.

Draco nodded. "I know, I'm more worried about how Blaise and Harry are going to react to each other," Draco explained.

Darius frowned, and understanding what Draco's worry was now, he looked thoughtfully at the sleeping boy. "I believe it should be fine if both of them are informed of each other. I think that, added to the fact that Blaise is a little more aware of himself, he will not make the same mistake and unknowingly try to make this boy his mate." Even as Darius said this, he knew he would have to keep an eye on the two un-mated Celraiths, but that was something he would worry about later.

"For now I think we should get his wings fully cleaned up before he wakes," Darius said looking around for something he could use. Draco smiled before he hurried across the hospital wing, returning a moment later with a bowl of warm water and two cloths. The two of them set to cleaning Harry's wings, and Draco was amused to find that the wings weren't black like he originally thought, but more of a very dark green that got lighter at the tips of the feathers.

"Now we just wait until he wakes up. Draco, please stay with him for now, I will be back shortly," Darius instructed; he wasn't expecting Harry to wake up any time soon, but he didn't want to leave him alone either.

Draco nodded and settled himself back down in the chair next to Harry's bed, watching the sleeping boy. He couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen when the counsel found out about Harry, and he dreaded the thought of Harry being forced to pick a mate, like the counsel had forced him to do. But that was still a better option than leaving Harry alone, and risk him ending up with someone like Rodric. Draco shuddered at that thought silently swearing to himself that he would never allow that to happen to another Submissive.

-x

Darius walked quickly down the halls; he wanted to inform the counsel elders of this newest development before he went to inform Dumbledore. It was easy enough to guess what was going to happen now, even though something like this had never come up before. The counsel would send other Celraith to the school, they would demand that each student in the school be checked to find if there were any more unknown Celraith children in hiding.

Darius knew that despite the counsel's boasting about it, it wasn't possible to keep track of every family line that had Celraith ancestors, so every decade or so there was another unknown that was found. But for there to be three of them in one year, it was a little unsettling. There was most definitely going to be an investigation to find out how, and why, these three Celraith were hidden from them.

Once he reached the owlery, Darius wrote out a quick note requesting a meeting with the counsel, there was too much to explain right now to write it all in a letter, so a meeting would be the easiest way. Making sure that his message made it clear to the counsel that this was an extremely urgent matter, he located his owl, attaching the letter before letting the bird go. All he could do now was wait, and deal with the situation as best as he could while on his own.

Turning, Darius went back down the stairs, keeping his pace quick, he started in the direction of the Headmaster's office. Even though he knew that the school nurse would have already informed Dumbledore about what going on, Darius still wanted to speak to the Headmaster himself.

-x

Arriving at the Gargoyle, Darius looked up at it for a moment before using the password he had been given; watching as the spiral staircase was revealed, he made his way up to the Headmaster's office. Knocking sharply on the door, he only had to wait a moment before he heard Dumbledore's voice.

"Please come in."

Pushing the door open, Darius stepped into the office and paused for a moment when he saw that it wasn't only Pomfrey that was in the office, but there were two students there as well. However, their presence wasn't of any concern to him, so he paid them no notice as he closed the door behind him and turned his full attention towards Dumbledore, as it was the Headmaster he had come to speak with.

"Ah, Mr. Stanberg. Poppy was just informing me of the incident in the hospital wing. How is Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"He is sleeping for the moment. I won't know the full extent of what happened until he wakes up, which could be anywhere from a few hours to a day," Darius explained. "But I do not believe that there is anything to worry about, he seems to be in perfect health, though I would like to discuss the possibility of taking him to see a specialist and have him looked over properly," Darius insisted. He was very sure that Harry was alright, but he figured that a fully trained Celraith healer would be able to better tell if the delayed inheritance had caused any damage to the boy.

"I think that is something we can discuss with Harry, when he wakes up," Dumbledore said

"Harry's alright though, isn't he?"

Darius turned his attention toward the person who spoke, it was the young female student and Darius had to take a moment to try and remember this girl's name. Easier said than done due to the fact that he had only been here a week, and there were far too many students here for Darius to have memorised their names in such a short amount of time. However, a few of them did manage to stand out from the crowd.

"He is fine, Ms. Granger," Darius reassured her. "I take it he is a friend of yours?" He looked from her to the red haired boy sitting next to her.

"The three of them have been inseparable since first year," Pomfrey stated and Darius got the feeling that she didn't always see that as a good thing.

"Then I promise you, your friend is fine," Darius said, giving Ms Granger a small smile.

"I was just about to inform them both about what has happened," Dumbledore explained. "Though I am unsure myself about the details." Dumbledore said, making it clear that he was expecting for Darius to be the one to do all the explaining.

Darius narrowed his eyes at the Headmaster; while he understood that the two students were Harry's friends, it was not for him to tell them. "This is not something that needs to be discussed with people not involved," Darius said sternly, and while the Headmaster seemed to understand, the two students did not.

"Not involved? Harry's our friend!" Ron shouted, jumping to his feet; Hermione grabbed his arm but said nothing about him shouting at a teacher, as she too also looked upset about what Darius had just said.

Closing his eyes Darius prayed for patience before facing the two students again. "No one is saying he isn't, but you two are not involved in this current situation. I have no obligation to tell you about what has happened. And in light of everything, your friend is now under my protection. If he wishes to tell you when he wakes up that is his choice." He looked once again at Dumbledore, ignoring the angry looks he was getting from the two students. "I need to speak with you alone about this matter, and what needs to be done."

Dumbledore sighed and nodded. "Very well. Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, I am sure if you go with Poppy she will allow you to visit Harry." Dumbledore looked then at the school nurse, who sighed and nodded.

"Of course, come along you two," she said. Ron was still glaring at Darius but Hermione pulled on his arm leading him out of the Headmaster's office. Darius kept his attention on Dumbledore, knowing that if anyone tried to see Harry while the boy's wings were still visible, Draco would be able to handle it until he could get back down to the Hospital Wing himself. Once the door was closed and he was alone with the Headmaster, he decided the best place to begin was with letting the old wizard know that there would most likely be other Celraith coming to the school.

-x

Draco remained next to Harry's bed, watching the other boy, and feeling relieved when the saw Harry's wings sliding back under the skin, the skin healing over almost instantly and leaving behind only small traces of blood from when the wings had first broken the skin.

Allowing for his own wings to be tucked away again, Draco stood and carefully removed the tattered remains of Harry's shirt, before cleaning away the last bits of blood. He was just pulling the blanket over the sleeping boy, when the door to the Hospital Wing opened. Draco glanced over his shoulder to see if it was a student that was in need of care. The blond boy let out a small sigh when he saw that it was only Blaise, and turned his gaze back toward the still unconscious Harry.

"Thought I might find you here," Blaise said, walking over to stand next to Draco. "I would have thought that Pomfrey would at least give you the weekend off." Violet eyes looked from Draco toward the bed that the blond boy was standing next to and Blaise couldn't stop the shocked expression from crossing his face. "What happened to Potter this time?" he asked, trying to keep his voice calm, even when he felt something in his chest tighten, demanding that he do something for the half naked boy laying there.

Draco gave his tan friend a curious look but answered him regardless. "He's just sleeping now, but he just came into his creature inheritance," Draco said, still watching his friend curiously. Blaise just nodded his head as if he had already known exactly what had happened but had needed someone to confirm his suspicions. "He's a Celraith, like us," Draco continued, watching violet eyes widen a fraction as Blaise took in that information, and what it meant.

"And he only now just had his full transformation?" Blaise asked in surprise. "I didn't know something like that could happen," Blaise admitted, his hand reaching out as if he wanted to touch Harry, but he stopped, pulling his hand away quickly. "Wait, is that why he's been so tired lately? I knew something wasn't right about that," Blaise hissed in both annoyance and anger; annoyance that no one else had seemed to find it weird that Harry was tired all the time, and anger at himself for having not listened to his own instincts and helped Harry when he had known that there was something terribly wrong with the smaller boy.

Draco gave Blaise a curious look. "You've been watching him?" Draco questioned. He didn't find Blaise's reaction surprising at all, but it was a little concerning knowing that Harry had been a Celraith as well, and Blaise had taken an obvious interest in the other boy to the point where Blaise was already feeling protective of him.

Blaise took a deep breath to calm himself before answering Draco. "I could tell that there was something wrong, everyone seemed to be ignoring it, then he seemed to be getting better so I figured that whatever it was had been cleared up finally," Blaise said, he had no real answer for why he had even started watching Harry to begin with, the only way he could describe it was that he had felt a pull toward him that he couldn't even begin to explain. Even now he felt the same pull, the same urge to protect him, it was similar to the way he had felt for Draco. But this feeling wasn't quite as strong, he felt the urge to protect Harry, to be by his side, but he had time to think before he acted, while as with Draco there had been no thinking.

Draco sighed and started cleaning up the water and the cloth, going to dispose of them. He wasn't sure what he could say to his friend. Draco, however, was saved the trouble of thinking about it too long when the door to the Hospital Wing opened again and this time Pomfrey walked in, Hermione and Ron trailing in behind her. "This is the last thing I need to deal with right now," Draco mumbled to himself, watching closely as Ron and Hermione hurried over to Harry's bed, clearly having been worried about him. Ron stopped a few feet away however, when he caught sight of Blaise and Draco standing there. The red head glared at Draco, who returned the look but said nothing.

Pomfrey stepped up next to them, which was the only thing that stopped Ron from shouting at that moment; the last thing Ron wanted was to be kicked out of the hospital wing for being too loud. "You may visit with him for a little while, but try not to wake him up," she ordered, then turned her attention towards Draco. "Mr. Malfoy, I would like to speak with you in my office for a moment."

Draco just nodded, he had been expecting this but he had to wonder about the timing. Draco could only assume she wanted to talk to him now in order to stop any fight that might have started between Draco and Ron.

"I'll wait for you," Blaise said. Draco gave him a grateful smile before turning and following Pomfrey to her office.

Blaise watched as the office door was closed behind Draco and the nurse before looking at the two Gryffindor's who were standing next to Harry's bed. The tan boy didn't move from his spot on the other side of the bed and only smirked when Ron glared at him. The red-head had obviously been expecting Blaise to leave as well, and was clearly unhappy that Blaise hadn't even moved.

"Why are you still standing there?" Ron demanded as he continued to glare at the other boy.

"I'm supervising; I want to make sure you don't wake Potter up, after you were told not to," Blaise informed Ron, and was amused to see the other boy's face turn red with anger. The Weasel was so easy to provoke sometimes. Hermione stepped in between the two of them before anything else could be said, looking up at Ron.

"Ron, don't start a fight," Hermione said sternly, narrowing her eyes at Ron, who was still glaring at Blaise.

"I wasn't going to wake him up," Ron insisted, and with another stern look from Hermione, Ron turned his attention away from Blaise, instead looking at Harry, who hadn't moved even though they weren't exactly being quiet at the moment.

The three of them stood in an awkward silence, Blaise watching the two Gryffindors while they watched Harry sleep. Blaise was almost sure that they would have tried to wake Harry up if he hadn't stayed there to make sure that didn't happen. And while the atmosphere seemed to be making Ron more irritated, it just amused Blaise, knowing that he was the cause of it.

The door to the Hospital Wing opened once again. Blaise glanced over and saw Darius walk in, he felt his wings twitching under his skin again; the man looked furious. He didn't say anything as the older Celraith came to stand at the end of Harry's bed, amber eyes not leaving the sleeping form on the bed.

"Mr. Stanberg." It was Hermione who spoke, looking at the assistant teacher. Darius glanced at her but said nothing, so Hermione took that as permission to continue speaking. "I'm really worried about Harry, if you know what is wrong with him, please can you just tell us?" she asked and Darius looked back at Harry.

"I have already told you that I will not discuss this with you. If your friend wishes to tell you what has happened, he is free to do so, but until that time I suggest you stop asking me." Darius glared at the two students for a moment, silently daring them to say anything else. When they both remained silent, he turned his attention toward Blaise. "Where has Draco gone? I thought he would still be here."

"Pomfrey took him into her office." Blaise nodded in the direction of the nurse's office and Darius looked over towards the closed door.

"Can I trust you to stay here and watch the boy for a moment?" Darius asked, looking back at Blaise, who raised his eyebrow curiously.

"Isn't that what I've been doing?" Blaise questioned, snapping his mouth shut when Darius glared at him; clearly whatever was going on had set the older Celraith on edge.

"Just wait here, and watch him," Darius ordered before turning and heading directly toward Pomfrey's office, not even bothering to knock on the door before he went in.

"What the bloody hell is going on, Zabini?" Ron demanded his voice rising slightly.

"None of your business, Weasel," Blaise replied calmly, not in the mood to get into a fight with the Gryffindor, but Ron seemed to have other ideas. The red head growled lowly and probably would have started shouting if Hermione hadn't put her hand on his arm. Ron shook it off roughly and Hermione stepped in front of him.

"Don't fight here, not when Harry's trying to sleep," she hissed, trying to keep her voice low. Blaise raised an eyebrow at her; if she was really worried about waking Harry up, she would have dragged her obnoxious boyfriend out of the Hospital Wing and let Harry sleep. But before Blaise could make any kind of comment, a soft rustling on the bed had Blaise turning his attention to the smaller boy laying there.

"...'m 'wake," Harry mumbled into his pillow. "Wha' happened?" he asked, turning his head to look at Ron and Hermione, both of whom looked relieved to see their friend awake, even if he still looked a bit pale and tired.

"I don't know, mate. We were waiting for you so we could go into Hogsmeade, then we were called up to Dumbledore's office and were told that you had collapsed, but that's it, no one is telling us anything else," Ron complained and Harry frowned.

"Mr. Stanberg said that you would tell us what happened," Hermione said; she didn't really want to bother Harry with questions right now, but she was really worried about him. Harry had been getting better last she knew but now he was back in the Hospital Wing again.

Harry's frown deepened and he shifted around on the bed more so he was now laying on his back; he winced now that he was laying on his still sore back. "...ow..." he hissed, but the small amount of pain wasn't going to stop him from trying to sit up.

"Potter, I don't think you should move just yet," Blaise said, stepping forward and frowning when Harry fell back on the bed, his face scrunched up in obvious pain. "Darius is in Pomfrey's office right now, but he'll be out in a minute; you should wait until he gives you the okay to be moving around," Blaise continued when Harry turned his attention toward the tan Slytherin.

"Zabini, why are you here...?" Harry asked, green eyes locking with Blaise's violet ones, which he had caught watching him more than once over the last few months. Blaise smiled down at him and couldn't stop himself from reaching out and brushing some hair away from Harry's face. Green eyes closed almost automatically as Harry leaned slightly into the touch, feeling the all too familiar pull towards the tan boy. The moment didn't last long as Blaise snatched his hand away as if he had been burned.

Harry opened his eyes, a look of confusion on his face as he stared at Blaise. "I'm the same as you," Blaise answered the unspoken question. Harry's eyes widened and he moved again, trying to sit up. "I told you not to move yet," Blaise said, though made no move to keep the smaller boy lying down.

"I've been lying in this bed to much again recently, I want up." Harry said stubbornly, gritting his teeth as his back throbbed painfully.

"Harry," Hermione said worriedly.

Ron looked torn; he didn't want Harry to hurt himself, but he also didn't want to agree with a Slytherin of all people, and tell Harry not to move too much. "Harry, can you tell us what's going on?" Ron asked instead.

Harry didn't answer as he managed to sit up, he could feel the pressure on his back again. Someone sighed, and then there was a hand pressed against his back, rubbing soothing circles near his shoulder blades where the wings had come out from before. Slowly Harry's tense muscles relaxed and he managed to open his eyes to stare at Blaise again.

The tan boy gave Harry a small smile. "Better?" he asked and Harry just nodded slowly. Blaise didn't remove his hand until he was sure that Harry's wings wouldn't be coming out. He then grabbed an extra pillow from a nearby bed, placing it behind Harry's back so the stubborn boy could remain sitting up if he wished.

"Thanks," Harry said as he leaned back and closed his eyes.

"Harry?" Ron questioned and Harry looked over at the red-head, who was looking at him strangely.

"I don't know what's going on," Harry said softly, finally answering Ron's question. "I just came up to get my potion, and one thing kind of lead to another..." Harry admitted.

"Dumbledore told us that you collapsed again," Hermione said.

"Um... not exactly." Harry bit his lip wondering how much he should tell his two best friends, finally deciding on telling them most of the truth, at least until he knew what was going on himself. "Malfoy was doing a magical scan on my core-"

"He did what?" Ron cut Harry off in surprise and Hermione looked close to horrified by that information.

"Harry, he could have killed you! Your core was damaged already, magic strong enough to do a scan on your core, it could have damaged it even more," Hermione said and Harry frowned at the two of them. He knew it could have been dangerous, but there had been something about Draco that Harry had trusted, something had told him that the blond boy wouldn't have hurt him.

"Draco wouldn't have done anything to hurt Potter," Blaise defended, echoing Harry's own thoughts. "He has been here with Pomfrey, studying to be a healer, and Pomfrey was here as well. If it had been that dangerous, then she wouldn't have allowed Draco to do the scan at all," Blaise said sharply, earning another glare from Ron. Before a real fight could get started though, Pomfrey's office door opened and Draco came out, followed closely by Darius. The older man still looked angry about something, and Blaise wondered what exactly was going on to make the man so upset.

Pomfrey came out of the office after them looking almost as angry as Darius did, but instead of heading towards Harry's bed with the two Celraiths, she went to the potions storage and busied herself there.

Darius guided Draco back over to Harry's bed, pausing when he saw the small black haired boy was sitting up on the bed. "You're awake," Darius said with a small smile, his angry features relaxing a little. "How are you feeling? I suspect that your back might still be tender."

"Yes, sir," Harry said looking at Darius; it hadn't been long since this man had arrived in school, and Harry knew next to nothing about him, other than the fact that he had shown up the same day that Draco had returned, and that he was now assisting with teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts and a potions class or two. But even though he didn't know this man, he was the only one that seemed to have any answers to the questions that Harry had. "My back is still sore, and it feels a little itchy too..." Harry admitted softly, glancing from Darius towards Ron and Hermione, both who were watching and listening to him intently, making Harry shift around, a little uncomfortable with all these people around his bed.

Darius nodded. "That is normal. If you don't mind, I would like to take a closer look to see if there is anything that could be causing you more pain than necessary," Darius requested. Harry looked back at the teacher and hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly. Darius gave Harry a curious look when the boy hesitated. "If you are not comfortable with this, you will have to let me know. I am not a mind reader," Darius informed him.

Harry flushed and he glanced again at Ron and Hermione, before glancing over at Blaise. It was Draco that picked up on the silent hint. "I don't think an audience is needed for this." Draco said and Darius glanced at him before nodding his agreement.

"It would be best if all of you left now," Darius said, looking mainly at Ron and Hermione, who he suspected would give him the most trouble about leaving.

Blaise wanted to argue, but he could practically feel how uncomfortable Harry was at the moment. "Alright, I'll see you later, Draco," Blaise said to the blond and then looked at Harry. "I suppose I'll be seeing you again soon too." He grinned at Harry when the smaller boy looked up at him. As Blaise locked eyes with Harry again, he felt that same pull he had whenever looking at the smaller boy, only now Blaise could understand a bit better what that pull actually was, and while it wasn't any easier to ignore, it at least made sense to him now.

Draco stood there looking from Harry to Blaise; he could see what was happening. "Blaise," Draco snapped at his friend, breaking whatever connection had been forming.

"I know, I know, I'm leaving," Blaise said and went towards the door. Ron and Hermione, however, made no move to leave.

"We're not going until we know what's going on," Ron insisted.

Harry sighed at the over protectiveness of his two friends. At times it was nice to have people who cared about him that much but, in moments like this, Harry felt as if it were more of a hassle than anything else. "Ron, Hermione, please? I promise to fill you both in later, just, I'm not too sure what's going on myself right now. I want answers for myself, before I try answering any questions." Harry looked pleadingly towards his two friends.

"We just want to help, Harry," Hermione said.

"I know, but I don't need your help right now," Harry said more forcefully than he had meant to; he felt bad when he saw the hurt look on Hermione's face and didn't even have to look at Ron to know that the red-head was glaring at him now.

"Fine," Ron said, taking Hermione's arm and leading her out the door, making sure to slam it behind him. Harry winced at the noise, lowering his head to look at his lap.

"May I have a look at your wings now?" Darius asked and Harry nodded shifting so that he wasn't leaning back against the headboard any more, two large wings gracefully unfolded from his back, his body tense as he expected there to be pain like the first time; however, there was only a slight sting when they broke the still tender skin on his back and the lack of pain was enough for Harry to relax a little bit.

Large hands brushed over his feathers, causing Harry to shudder. "I was told that you knew nothing of your inheritance?" Darius questioned as he examined Harry's wings closely.

"I... no, sir, no one told me about it," Harry said. "I don't even know anyone who would have known..."

"Any parent or guardian should have known," Darius said and Harry glanced up at him with a frown. Darius gave him a small smile in return before he continued. "Though in your case, it is easy to see why no one knew," Darius said, moving back around the bed so that Harry could see him better. "Your wings are fine, no bruising on your back either; the soreness you feel is normal for every first time transformation."

Harry nodded, not saying anything, and Darius sighed, running a hand through his own hair. "I know you most likely have a lot of questions and I will answer anything I can about your inheritance. Any other questions you have, Draco will be able to answer a lot of."

Harry frowned. "Most of my questions I don't think either of you could answer..." Harry admitted. "Like... if my parents were like this?"

"I can tell you right now, that you most likely got your inheritance from your father, as your mother was muggle born," Draco pointed out.

"That's not necessarily true, Draco. Celraith have been known to marry muggles in the past, so Harry's mother could have been a carrier of Celraith blood, but there is no way to get that information at the moment," Darius said. "Any question about what you are, and how to control your wings, and how to use your magic properly, those are things I can help with," he told him. "But as for where your inheritance came from, I can promise you that someone will already be looking into it."

Harry nodded, his wings twitching slightly. He turned his head so that he could look at the appendages; reaching up and touching them, he shivered at how sensitive they were. They were going to take a lot of getting used to.

"I do want to ask you a few things, Harry," Darius said, drawing Harry's attention away from the dark green wings. "We have already covered the fact that you didn't know about this inheritance, and neither did anyone else it seems," Darius said and Harry nodded his head in agreement.

"Yes, sir, I didn't know anything about this. I know that I've been really tired recently, but I thought that was just from the fight I was in last year at the Ministry," Harry admitted.

"Last year?" Darius asked, trying to hide his surprise. "Just how long ago was your birthday?"

"My birthday is July thirty first." Harry frowned when it looked as if the assistant teacher went a shade paler.

"Your inheritance was delayed for nearly an entire year?" Darius shook his head; he had heard of an inheritance being delayed for a month or two, but for this boy to even still be standing after eight months was more than a little shocking.

"I'm going to guess that that isn't normal," Harry said flatly.

Draco smirked at Harry. "You've never been able to do anything normal, have you?" the blond boy asked.

"You make it sound like I do this stuff on purpose," Harry huffed. "It's not like I asked to be a target for the universe to throw random things at me to see what I can and can't survive."

Darius sighed, shaking his head. "You are very lucky to be alive."

"I've heard that more than once," Harry interrupted, seeming to be not phased at all by his near death experience. Darius narrowed his eyes at the boy.

"As I said, you are lucky in this case. However, I think it would be best if you saw a healer who is a little more experienced to take a look at your magical core," Darius said.

Harry frowned at him. "Why is my magical core so important? I mean other than the obvious reason, but what does it have to do with my inheritance?"

Darius ran a hand through his hair closing his eyes for a moment before answering. "Your inheritance uses up a lot of magic, it's one reason why we like to keep track of bloodlines to find out who could be a potential Celraith. For at least a month before your inheritance is supposed to take place, you are not supposed to use any magic that will drain your core to drastically," Darius explained, remembering when he had had the same conversation with Draco.

"What happens if you do use a lot of magic?" Harry asked, knowing that he had used quite a lot of magic trying to force Voldemort out when the mad man had possessed him.

"Usually it can just delay the inheritance by a month or two. Longest I've ever heard of a delayed inheritance is four months, and even then it nearly killed them. The fact that your inheritance was delayed for eight months, and you are awake within hours of your first transformation is nothing short of astounding."

"Like I said, Potter doesn't know how to do anything normal," Draco said.

"Stuff it, Malfoy," Harry snapped then looked back at Darius. "Draco said that there was some kind of block around my magical core," Harry said. "I take it that's not normal either?"

"I'm not healer, that is something that you will have to ask the healer when they arrive. I think any other questions about your magical core may have to be directed to them," Darius said. "I know how a normal transformation is supposed to go, I know what isn't normal, and I know what has killed people before. But none of those seem to apply to you."

Harry frowned not liking the fact that the person who was supposed to have, if not all the answers, then most of them, apparently didn't know anything at all. "Then I guess I don't have any more questions," Harry said, not even bothering to hide his annoyance. Being careful with his wings, Harry shifted around on the bed before laying down on his side, his back towards Darius and Draco now.

Draco glared at Harry's back; he didn't like being dismissed in such a way, but before he could say anything to the other submissive, Darius put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "Let him rest, Draco." Even though the words were spoken softly, Draco recognised the order for what it was. Shrugging off the hand on his shoulder, the blond Celraith turned and stormed out of the hospital wing.

Darius remained behind for a moment longer, looking at the small boy curiously. He got the feeling that there was far more going on here, but there was nothing he could do until he heard back from the elders. Pulling the curtain around Harry's bed so that no one would see him and his wings if they came into the room, the older Celraith left and went back to his room, hoping that things didn't get any more complicated than this.

TBC

And now that is the end of Chapter two! I have a rough map of what I want to happen in this story. It is going to be a little bit of a challenge for me since I am adding in my own OC's.

And in case anyone is curious about Ron and Hermione, I am NOT going to be cliché with it and have Harry just cut off his friendship with them. There will be no bashing of them in this story, and if I can do it correctly Harry will remain good friends with the both of them, they just won't be around a lot.


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